Treatment of anaerobically pre-treated domestic sewage by a rotating biological contactor

The performance of a rotating biological contactor (RBC) for the post-treatment of the effluent of an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) was the subject of this study. Different hydraulic and organic loading rates have been investigated. The removal efficiencies of CODtotal, CODsuspended, CODcolloidal and CODsoluble increased at a higher hydraulic retention time (HRT) and a lower influent organic loading rate. The results obtained indicated that a two-stage RBC reactor at an HRT of 10 h and an organic loading rate of 6.4 g COD m−2 d−1 represents an effective post-treatment process. Most CODsuspended and CODcolloidal were removed in the first stage while nitrification proceeded in the second stage. The overall nitrification efficiency was 92% at an ammonia loading rate of 1.1 g m−2 d−1. Total E. coli removal at HRTs of 10, 5 and 2.5 h were 99.5%, 99.0% and 89.0%, respectively. The major part of suspended E. coli (>4.4 μm) was removed by sedimentation or by adsorption in the biofilm of the first stage of RBC (99.66%). However, E. coli in the colloidal fraction (<4.4 to >0.45 μm) was eliminated in the second stage of RBC (99.78%). A comparison of the performance of a one-stage versus two-stage RBC system, operated at the same total loading rate, revealed an improvement in the effluent quality of the two-stage effluent as compared to the one-stage effluent. The two stages RBC were used to examine the effect of hydraulic shock loads on reactor performance in terms of COD, nitrification and E. coli removal.