Kinetics of Organic and Ammonia Removal in Swine Wastewater Treatment Using Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor

A pilot-scale experiment with a treating capacity of 10 m3 per day was carried out for swine wastewater treatment by using of a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR). The reactor was start-up in 60 days period and run for a year, and an average removal rate of 82.9% for COD and 89.0% for ammonia were achieved, under a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 12h, with influent COD and ammonia of 1686 ± 497 mg/L and 582 ± 126 mg/L, respectively. The effluent met the national discharge standard of pollutants for livestock and poultry breeding (GB 18596-2001) of China. The kinetics of organic carbon and ammonia removals in the MBBR was studied based on the Stover-Kincannon model and the 1/2 order substrate removal model, respectively. Temperature coefficient "θ" was introduced into the COD and ammonia removal models to describe the effects of the temperature. The model simulated results showed good agreements with experimental results. The model could be employed for the design of a full-scale MBBR process for simultaneous removal of organic carbon and ammonia from swine wastewaters.