Autotrophic nitrogen removal in one lab-scale vertical submerged biofilm reactor

In this study, the process performance of a new vertical submerged biofilm reactor for complete autotrophic ammonia removal was investigated using synthetic wastewater. The main objectives of this study were to evaluate the flexibility of the reactor, achieve partial autotrophic nitrification with influent ammonium nitrogen ranging from 40 to 280 mg L−1, and achieve a stable half partial autotrophic nitrification by controlling hydraulic retention time (HRT) and alkalinity. A very low concentration of nitrate was observed in the effluent during nitrification. Then autotrophic denitrification revealed Anammox bacteria were present and active in the central anaerobic parts of the bioreactor which was inoculated with a mixed microbial consortium from activated sludge. The results of this study demonstrated that autotrophic denitrification processes can coexist with heterotrophic denitrifying processes in the same environment even if Anammox bacteria were less competitive than heterotrophic denitrifying bacteria.