Performance of an ANAMMOX reactor treating wastewater generated by antibiotic and starch production processes

Abstract

A pilot-scale anaerobic ammonia oxidation (ANAMMOX) reactor was used to treat mixed wastewater resulting from a chlortetracycline and starch production process. The results, collected over the course of 272 days, show that the ratio of influent ammonium to nitrite, pH, and temperature can all affect the efficiency of nitrogen removal. The ratio of influent ammonium to nitrite was maintained at about 1:1 at a concentration below 200 mg·L^-1 for both influent ammonium and nitrite. The total nitrogen (TN) loading rate was 0.15–0.30 kgN·m^-3·d^-1, pH remained at 7.8–8.5, and temperature was recorded at 33±1°C. The rate of removal of ammonia, nitrite, and TN were over 90%, 90%, and 80%, and the effluent ammonium, nitrite and TN concentrations were below 50, 30, and 100 mg·L^-1.

Keywords

anaerobic ammonia oxidation / antibiotic and starch production / ratio of ammonia to nitrite / total nitrogen

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51078023) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2009JBM077) and the Guidance Fund of Science and Technology of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China (2010).

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg