Research Article

Received: 21 December 2011 Revised: 25 February 2012 Accepted: 27 February 2012 Published online in Wiley Online Library: 16 April 2012

(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI 10.1002/jctb.3803

Simultaneous removal of TOC and TSS in swine wastewater using the partial nitritation process
a Airton Kunz,b Marcelo Bortoli,c Tiago Perondid Marina Celant De Pra, and Angelica Chinia
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Considering biological nitrogen removal, the partial nitritation connected with the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process is a promising alternative for nitrogen elimination at high loading rates. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the establishment and operation of a partial nitritation process in an airlift reactor with simultaneous removal of total organic carbon and suspended solids using swine wastewater. RESULTS: The partial nitritation reactor was inoculated with a nitrifying sludge at 2.1 gTSS L1 and fed with an UASB reactor efuent. High organic carbon loading rates, above 2 kgTOC m3 d1 have been shown to be potential inhibitors of the partial nitritation process due to competition between autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria. In this study, the partial nitritation process was established using undiluted swine wastewater, with HRT of 24 h, 1.84 mgO2 L1 (SD = 0.41) DO, loading rate of 1.14 gTOC L1 d1 and 0.91 gN-NH3 L1 d1 for more than 100 consecutive days. At the same time, the system proved to be an effective tool in TOC and TSS removal, reaching 84.9% (SD = 9.3) and 83.1% (SD = 0.1), respectively. CONCLUSION: This result enhances partial nitritation application as a technology for high load nitrogen converting, and allows the possibility of connection with anammox reactors. c 2012 Society of Chemical Industry Keywords: suspended solids; anammox; swine efuent; nitrogen removal; organic carbon

NOTATION
CLR: COD: DO: FA: FNA: NPE: NPR: TN: TOC: TSS: Amax Hmax Carbon loading rate (kgTOC m3 d1 ) Chemical oxygen demand (mg L1 ) Dissolved oxygen (mgO2 L1 ) Free ammonia (mgNH3 L1 ) Free nitrous acid (mgHNO2 L1 ) Nitrite production efciency (%) Nitrite production rate (kgNO2 N m3 d1 ) Total nitrogen (mg L1 ) total organic carbon (mg L1 ) total suspended solids (mg L1 ) = maximum growth rate of autotrophic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (d1 ) = maximum growth rate of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria (d1 )

with inadequate management, cause impacts on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, such as eutrophication of lentic and lotic environments, and increase the nutrient and metal concentration in the soil. In recent years, new technologies have been developed or adapted to treat swine wastewater to remove organic matter and nitrogen compounds.2,3,4 Considering the biological removal of nitrogen, partial nitritation of the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process, represented by Equations (1) and (2), is a promising alternative for nitrogen elimination at high loading rates. Usually, biological treatment for nitrogen removal

Correspondence to: Marina Celant De Pr a, Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Contestado, Conc ordia, SC, Brazil. E-mail: marinadepraa@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION
Currently, the supply chains of different product areas are under pressure due to the environmental impacts they can exert. Pig farming has emerged as one of the largest chains in the agribusiness, and although it has signicant economic and social importance, it is considered one of the main livestock activities with high potential environmental impact. The main challenge for swine wastewater management comes from the large volume of liquid efuent generated by this concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) and the high concentration of nutrients, such as nitrogen, contained in swine manure.1 These aspects, associated

This article was published online on 16 April 2012. An error was subsequently identied in equation (1). This notice is included in the online and print versions to indicate that both have been corrected 25 July 2012. a Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Contestado, Conc ordia, SC, Brazil b Embrapa Swine and Poultry, Conc ordia, SC, Brazil c Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florian opolis, SC, Brazil

1641

d Department of Biological Sciences, West University of Santa Catarina, Joac aba, SC, Brazil

J Chem Technol Biotechnol 2012; 87: 16411647

www.soci.org

c 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

www.soci.org involves conventional autotrophic nitrication and heterotrophic denitrication. However, if used, this process requires large amounts of oxygen and alkalinity to complete the removal cycle.5 In the anammox process, nitrite serves as the nal electron acceptor in ammonia oxidation to produce gaseous nitrogen (N2 ) under anaerobic conditions, according to the stoichiometry shown in Equation (2).6 This process offers several advantages over conventional nitricationdenitrication systems, including higher nitrogen removal rate, lower sludge production and less space requirement.7,8 For anammox process application, previous partial nitritation is necessary to prepare the efuent to feed the anammox reactor. In the partial nitritation process, it is necessary to generate NH4 + /NO2 at stoichiometric ratio for anammox, as shown in Equation (1). The effectiveness of the process is directly linked to the capacity of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) to oxidize ammonia to nitrite and the simultaneous inhibition of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) which oxidize nitrite to nitrate. Although the ammonium/nitrite theoretical anammox stoichiometric ratio is 1 : 1.32 (Equation (2)), it is easier to adjust the ratio to 1 : 1 (Equation (1)) considering the higher nitrite toxicity to anammox bacteria than ammonium.10 Thus, as a pretreatment for feeding the anammox reactor, partial nitritation should limit the amount of ammonia oxidized by approximately 50%. NH4 + + 0.86O2 0.57NO2 + 0.43NH4 + + 0.58H2 O + 1.12H+ NH4 + 1.32NO2 + 0.066HCO3 + 0.13H+ N2
+

M Celant De Pr a et al.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Swine wastewater The swine efuent was collected from an upow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor from a swine manure treatment system (SMTS) located at Embrapa Swine and Poultry experimental facilities, Concordia, SC, Brazil.1 The characteristics of the swine wastewater were: pH 7.9, 30008000 mg L1 TSS, 15006500 mg L1 TOC, 25004500 mg L1 BOD5 , 50008000 mgCaCO3 L1 alkalinity, 15002000 mg L1 TN, 9001500 mg L1 NH3 -N and NO2 -N and NO3 -N were not detectable. Experimental set-up The experimental system (Fig. 1) consisted of a 5 L glass reactor with a swim-bed biofringe material as biomass carrier.20 The reactor temperature control and aeration apparatus consisted of an air pump (Big Air, A230) and ceramic air diffusers. A pH controller (S2123-6606, Sincrontec) was connected to the system and the reactor was fed using a peristaltic pump (Cole-Parmer Master Flex HV-07 553-70) operated at a ow rate of 5 L d1 . An Imhoff cone was used in the reactor output as settling tank. Reactor start-up and operation conditions The partial nitritation (PN) reactor was inoculated with a nitrifying sludge collected from an experimental reactor located at Embrapa Swine and Poultry laboratory at 2.1 gSS L1 . The reactor temperature was kept at 35 C and the pH maintained between 7.6 and 7.8 using NaOH 1 mol L1 to supplement alkalinity. For the system start-up, the inuent was diluted with tap water at 25% (v/v) and its concentration was increased according to the stability of the nitritation process until it reached 100% (v/v) of inuent. In other words, for each increase in concentration, the complete nitritation process was expected to adapt before making new progress. Analytical methods Ammonia (NH3 -N) was analyzed potentiometrically using a selective electrode method.21 Nitrite (NO2 -N) and nitrate (NO3 N) were determined based on a colorimetric method21 using a ow injection analysis system (FIAlab 2500). Alkalinity was determined using the titrimetric method21 (Titronic T-200 semiautomatic) and expressed in mgCaCO3 L1 . TN and TOC were analyzed performed using a TOC analyser (Multi C/N 2100, Analytik Jena). The pH and DO were determined using a pH meter (S1236606, Sincrontec) and a DO meter (55, YSI), respectively.

(1) (2)

+ 0.26NO3 + 0.066CH2 O0.5 N0.15 + 2H2 O

However, as a result of the involvement of complex biochemical reactions and several microorganisms in the process, this relationship can be difcult to maintain. For this, the physiological differences between the AOB and NOB are extremely important in the stability of the partial nitritation process. Because the NOB are more sensitive than AOB under certain concentrations of free ammonia and free nitrous acid,11 under limited concentrations of dissolved oxygen (DO)12,13 and also have a lower growth rate above 20 C,14,15 partial nitritation can be achieved by controlling the pH, DO, temperature and hydraulic retention time (HRT). Previous studies report that the overall efciency of nitrogen removal in the connected process of partial nitritation + anammox was limited by the rst stage of partial nitritation.3 As known, swine wastewater contains a high organic content as well as a high total suspended solid concentration.16,17 Signicant negative effects of organic matter on anaerobic ammonium removal in the anammox reactors have been reported in some studies.17,18,19 When organic matter coexists with ammonium and nitrite, anammox bacteria growth can be suppressed by rapid growth of heterotrophic denitriers due to the competition for nitrite (electron acceptor) and living space in the reactor. Therefore, when a large amount of suspended solids is brought into the anammox reactor, this may attach itself to the biolm and consequently, nitrogen removal efciencies may decrease.9 This shows the importance of the operational control in the partial nitritation process to maintain the efuent stability to avoid causing inhibition or decreasing the nitrogen removal efciency in the anammox process. In the present study, the main objective was to establish and evaluate the partial nitritation process in an airlift reactor system with simultaneous removal of total organic carbon and total suspended solids from swine wastewater.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Start-up and inuence of TOC on partial nitritation The PN reactor was operated for 400 days without interruption. The performance of nitrogen and time course of carbon loading rates in the PN reactor are shown in Fig. 2. Note that all values given in this study are given as average plus standard deviation (SD). Depending on the swine wastewater characteristics and the reactor operation conditions, additional nitrogen conversions may occur, including the oxidation of nitrite to nitrate. The reactor was operated at 24 h of HRT and the temperature was kept at 34.3 C (SD = 0.8) to favor the growing of AOB due to temperature and wash out of NOB in the reactor.22,23 Satisfactorily, the concentrations of NO3 -N concentrations were not detected

1642

wileyonlinelibrary.com/jctb

c 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

J Chem Technol Biotechnol 2012; 87: 16411647

Simultaneous removal of TOC and TSS in swine wastewater

www.soci.org

Figure 1. Partial nitritation reactor schematic diagram.

Figure 2. (a) Time course of carbon loading rates and nitrite production rates. (b) Time course of nitrogen concentrations in the PN reactor during the experiment.

during the experiment (Fig. 2(b)), indicating that NOB activity was successfully inhibited. During start-up, the efuent used to feed the system was diluted at 25% (v/v) to favor the partial nitritation process and then gradually increased to 100% (v/v) according to the stability process. On day 25 of reactor operation, after an adjustment period of approximately 15 days at a concentration of approximately 300 mg L1 NH3 -N, the nitrite accumulation was stable in the system, allowing an increase in concentration. After reaching a 75% dilution (v/v), working with a concentration of approximately

700 mg L1 NH3 -N in the inuent, day 90, the ammonia oxidation stopped (Fig. 2(b)), due to the high organic CLR in the inuent (Fig. 2(a) and Fig. 3(a)). Owing to nitrifying bacteria are autotrophic, they cannot incorporate exogenous organic compounds, because they obtain energy from oxidation of inorganic compounds.24 Still, the maximum growth rate of autotrophic nitrifying (Amax ) is much lower than the growth rate of heterotrophic bacteria (Hmax ). Wiesmann (1994)25 reported Hmax = 7.2 d1 for the growth rate of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria and Amax = 0.77 d1 for the

1643

J Chem Technol Biotechnol 2012; 87: 16411647

c 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

wileyonlinelibrary.com/jctb

www.soci.org

M Celant De Pr a et al.

Figure 3. (a) Time course of total organic carbon concentrations. (b) Time course of suspended solid concentrations in the PN reactor during the experiment.

growth rate of autotrophic ammonia oxidizing bacteria. This large difference in growth rates, coupled with the carbon availability and rapid growth of the heterotrophic bacteria, developed the competition for living space in the PN reactor, suppressing the growth of AOB which is slower. Therefore, when high organic matter coexists with ammonium, the AOB cannot compete with heterotrophic bacteria, because it tends to be inhibited and the partial nitritation performance is suppressed. For most of the time, at low CLR, there was simultaneous partial ammonia nitrication and heterotrophic activity, showing that both processes could coexist in the PN reactor without inhibition, as shown in Fig. 2 during the VIII, IX and X phases and in Fig. 3(a). However, when the CLR increased, the AOB activity tended to decrease. This was because the fraction of nitrifying microorganism activity decreased as the TOC : N ratio increased, which caused competition between the heterotrophic and autotrophic bacteria for oxygen and nutrients. Carbon loading rates above 2 kgTOC m3 d1 negatively affected the partial nitritation process performance, as conrmed by low ammonia oxidation and consequently, low NPRs obtained during the 90120 days of operation (Fig. 2, phase III). It was observed that during phases IV and V, the TOC loading rate was very close to 2 kg m3 d1 , obtaining an average of 1.42 kg m3 d1 (SD = 0.5) and positively keeping stable rates of nitrite production (Fig. 2(a)) and ammonia oxidation (Fig. 2(b)) in the reactor. However, when these loads were greater than 2 kg m3 d1 , achieving 3.9 kg m3 d1 during phase VI, for example (Fig. 2(a)), the nitrite production rates were limited, showing the inhibition of ammonia oxidation and decreased AOB due to heterotrophic competition. Thus it was chosen to work with a safe CLR, less than 2 kgTOC m3 d1 , controlled by swine wastewater dilution so as not to inuence nitrite production and consequently the partial nitritation process. Thus, operational conditions have to be controlled to get a good balance between AOB and heterotrophic communities, mainly the

CLR applied to the feeding system, because that can favor or inhibit the autotrophic bacteria responsible for ammonia oxidation. TOC and TSS removal characteristics Figure 3(a) shows the time courses of TOC concentrations in the PN reactor. Since the nitrogen concentration was increased gradually, the TOC concentrations increased proportionally, except in times of TSS uctuation in the inuent concentration or transition to a new batch of swine wastewater. The information on the performance of the anammox process operated under a relatively higher organic content and high nitrogen loading rate is limited. However, some studies have reported that anammox bacterial growth was signicantly suppressed by denitrifying communities under high organic matter content due to the weaker competition for nitrite (electron acceptor) and living space.17,18,19 Tang et al. (2011)7 observed that COD concentrations above 300 mg L1 tended to reduce the nitrite consumption via the anammox process and denitrication became the dominant route for nitrite removal; while Yamamoto et al. (2011)26 studied biological nitrogen removal in an anammox reactor and reported that although 200 mg L1 of TOC remained in the efuent of the partial nitritation reactor, the anammox nitrogen removal rate was not signicantly decreased. In the present study, TOC concentrations in the efuent of the PN reactor remained stable, even with high variability in swine wastewater concentrations. The average was 147.93 mgTOC L1 (SD = 88.96) throughout the experiment. It should be noted that even in the period when the autotrophic bacteria were inhibited in the PN reactor, TOC removal remained high. The global average TOC efciency was 84.9% (SD = 9.3) throughout the experiment that conrmed the strong activity of the heterotrophic bacteria responsible for aerobic degradation of organic matter in the reactor. In addition, the TOC concentrations shown in Fig. 3(a) were lower than those found by other authors using a similar conguration, which maximized the use of this efuent.9

1644

wileyonlinelibrary.com/jctb

c 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

J Chem Technol Biotechnol 2012; 87: 16411647

Simultaneous removal of TOC and TSS in swine wastewater

www.soci.org

Figure 4. (a) Time course of ammonia removal efciency and nitrite production efciency after 200 days. (b) Time course of DO concentrations in the PN reactor after 200 days.

Figure 3(b) shows the time courses of TSS concentrations in the inuent and efuent of the PN reactor. When a large amount of suspended solids is placed in the anammox reactor, it can attach itself to the biolm, and as a result, nitrogen removal efciencies can decrease.9 Satisfactorily, throughout the operation period, the reactor showed TSS removal efciency of 83.1% (SD = 0.1), fed with 1725.1 mgTSS L1 (SD = 1298.25), generating an efuent with 197.0 mgTSS L1 (SD = 91.32). The need for different swine wastewater dilutions can explain the high variation in the TSS and TOC concentrations in the PN reactor inuent. Performance and achieving partial nitritation by DO control Considering that degradative processes are focused on oxidation reactions, a very important variable in the nitrication process is dissolved oxygen. Because gaseous oxygen is the nal electron acceptor in the nitritation stoichiometry reaction, its concentration can be decisive in the rates of ammonia removal and nitrite production. Thus, we chose to use the dissolved oxygen concentration as an operational parameter for partial nitritation control. Figure 4(a) shows the time courses of ammonia removal efciency (ARE) and nitrite production efciency (NPE) in the PN reactor. Previous studies have reported that the specic growth rate of the AOB population increased with increase in the DO concentration,12,27 favoring the metabolic activity of these bacteria. This could be seen in the PN reactor when working with the DO available, 3.32 mg L1 (SD = 0.76), reaching complete nitritation at several times, allowing all NH3 -N to be converted to NO2 -N, resulting in ARE and NPE averages of 88.2% (SD = 0.11) and 74.3% (SD = 0.21), respectively, as shown in Fig. 4(a) at 200 to 300 days of operation. Figure 4(b) shows the time courses of DO concentrations in the PN reactor. The results obtained by some researchers27,28,29 showed that oxygen concentration was a limiting factor for the ammonia oxidation rates, and therefore, could be used as an

operational strategy for partial nitritation control. In this study, the global average DO concentration in the reactor was 2.96 mg L1 (SD = 0.94). However, these values were progressively reduced to achieve stability of the partial nitritation process. As a result, at a DO concentration of 1.84 mg L1 (SD = 0.41), after the 300 days (Fig. 4), the ARE and NPE remained most of the time between 40 and 60%, stabilizing the partial nitritation process, working with loading rates of 1.14 kgTOC m3 d1 and 0.91 kgNH3 -N m3 d1 , which is very satisfactory when working with real swine wastewater considering the variability in inuent. The average ARE during the stability period was 50.5% (SD = 12.3), while the average NPE was 44.5% (SD = 14.6) (Fig. 4(a)), and this stability was maintained for more than 100 consecutive operational days. The system was also efcient for the selective inhibition of NOB keeping the ratio NO2 /(NO2 + NO3 ) at 0.998 % (SD = 0.005). This means no nitrication occurred in the PN reactor and the ammonia was oxidized only to nitrite by the AOB activity. If produced, nitrate can serve as a substrate to promote denitrication competition and will damage subsequent anammox reactions. Therefore, nitrite is the only product of ammonia oxidation that is a positive response of the partial nitritation process. Equation (3) shows the stoichiometry of the nitrication reaction.30 The stoichiometric ratio between the molecular weights of ammonium ion and oxygen is 4.57 mgO2 for each mgNH4 + oxidized, while in the partial nitritation process only 1.71 mgO2 for each mgNH4 + oxidized (Equation (1)) are required. On the other hand, for the aerobic oxidation of organic matter 1.42 mgO2 mg1 C5 H7 NO2 are needed, represented by Equation (4).30 In the PN reactor, the inuent TOC concentrations vary much more than the ammonium concentrations and even heterotrophic bacteria have a lower oxygen consumption than the autotrophic bacteria; depending on the carbon concentrations available, the DO concentrations required may increase or decrease in the reactor. Therefore, higher TOC concentrations in the inuent

1645

J Chem Technol Biotechnol 2012; 87: 16411647

c 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

wileyonlinelibrary.com/jctb

www.soci.org

M Celant De Pr a et al.

Figure 5. Time course of (a) free ammonia and (b) free nitrous acid concentrations.

increase the competition for oxygen between autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria in the PN reactor. NO3 + H2 O + 2H+ NH4 + + 2O2 C5 H7 NO2 + 5 O2 5 CO2 + NH3 + 2 H2 O (3) (4)

Considering the simultaneous activity of heterotrophic bacteria and the high removal efciency of TOC in the PN reactor, the DO concentration used for the process stability proved to be an economical strategy because their low values reduced aeration costs compared with the conventional nitrication/denitrication process. Furthermore, the reactor had a distinct advantage in keeping the coexistence of the autotrophic and heterotrophic process in the same environment, working with high rates of TOC and TSS removal and still with lower oxygen consumption compared with conventional processes. Effect of free ammonia and free nitrous acid Certain concentrations of FA and FNA exert an inhibitory effect on the metabolism of nitrifying biomass11,31 and consequently, strongly inuence the oxidation rates of ammonia and nitrite. Their concentrations depend, besides the pH and temperature, on the ammonia and nitrite concentrations. Thus, even at pH close to 7.0, depending on the ammonia and nitrite concentrations in the inuent, AOB or NOB may be inhibited by the presence of FA or FNA in excess. The FA and FNA concentrations were monitored during the experiment and during inhibition in the partial nitritation process. Figure 5 shows the time courses of free ammonia and free nitrous acid levels in the PN reactor. Free ammonia and free nitrous acid concentrations can be estimated using Equations (5) and (6):11 FNA(HNO2 , mg/L) = [NO2 N 46 14 e[2300/(273+T( C))] 10pH 17 [total ammonia as N] 10pH FA(NH3 , mg/L) = 14 e[6344/(273+T( C))] 10pH (5) (6)

Previous studies11,14,28 demonstrated that the NOB are more sensitive to FA than the AOB, which can be inhibited at concentrations from 0.110.0 mg L1 , and both are severely inhibited at concentrations higher than 150 mg L1 . Therefore, when the FA concentration is too high, above 150 mgNH3 L1 , it is sufcient to inhibit AOB and NOB, and ammonia will accumulate in the system. At lower FA concentrations, up to 10 mgNH3 L1 , only NOB will be inhibited and nitrite will accumulate in the system. In the PN reactor, most of the time, when working at low TOC concentrations, the FA concentrations remained below these

inhibitory to AOB (Fig. 5(a)), contributing to the partial nitritation process and operating at FA concentrations inhibitory only for the NOB. Thus, it was assumed that nitrite oxidizing bacteria had been inhibited, which also prevented the conversion of nitrite to nitrate. However, after increasing TOC concentrations between 90 and 120 days of reactor operation, the FA concentration exceeded that required for AOB inhibition, showing inhibition in the partial nitritation process. Figure 5(a) shows that the equilibrium of the system was shifted to formation and increase in FA concentrations, reaching values much higher than the limit for AOB inhibition, 311.07 mgNH3 L1 during this period. According to the stoichiometry of the partial nitritation process, the oxidation reaction of ammonia to nitrite generates a hydrogen ion, so it tended to consume alkalinity and consequently tended to reduce the pH. After the inhibition in the PN reactor due to competition with heterotrophic bacteria, the partial nitritation process stopped and ammonia accumulated in the reactor. Thus, there was no ammonia oxidation during this period, no alkalinity consumption by AOB, and consequently, the pH increased from 7.6 to 8.5, shifting the equilibrium of nitrogen species for free ammonia formation, which also contributed to process inhibition. In summary, with increasing TOC concentrations in the swine wastewater, the AOB are suppressed by heterotrophic bacteria, resulting in the accumulation of ammonia in the reactor, increased pH, FA formation and limited AOB activity and growth in the PN reactor. In the same context, depending on the equilibrium of the system, FNA inhibition may also occur. Anthonisen et al.11 reported that nitrication may be inhibited by FNA at concentrations between 0.22 and 2.8 mg L1 . According to Fig. 4(b), FNA concentrations remained below the inhibitory concentrations throughout the experiment, except on day 249, when due to operational problems, there was a decrease in pH from 7.6 to 7.0 and the equilibrium was shifted to FNA formation, reaching a concentration of 0.216 mgHNO2 L1 . However, these concentrations were not sufcient to inuence the partial nitritation process or inhibit the AOB activity. Thus, the results obtained in this study showed that FA and FNA have a signicant inhibitory effect on the metabolism of nitrifying biomass, and their concentrations are directly related to good conditions of reactor operation.

CONCLUSIONS
The PN reactor had a distinct advantage in maintaining the coexistence of autotrophic and heterotrophic processes in the same environment with lower oxygen consumption compared with conventional processes. However, for swine wastewater, it

1646

wileyonlinelibrary.com/jctb

c 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

J Chem Technol Biotechnol 2012; 87: 16411647

Simultaneous removal of TOC and TSS in swine wastewater is recommended to work with carbon loading rates less than 2 kgTOC m3 d1 , because when high organic matter coexists with ammonium, the AOB cannot compete with heterotrophic bacteria and tend to be eliminated and the partial nitritation performance will be suppressed. Also, the FA concentration contributes to keeping AOB inhibited due to the pH increasing. The partial nitritation process has been achieved working with swine undiluted wastewater under conditions of HRT 24 h, 1.84 mgO2 L1 (SD = 0.41) DO, loading rate of 1.14 gTOC L1 d1 and 0.91 gNH3 -N L1 d1 for more than 100 consecutive days. At the same time, the system proved to be an effective tool for TOC and TSS removal, reaching 84.9% (SD = 9.3) and 83.1% (SD = 0.1), respectively, at all times. This study conducted with real swine wastewater enhanced the case for the application of partial nitritation as a technology for high load nitrogen conversion, and allows the possibility of connection with anammox reactors.

www.soci.org
nitrication and microbial kinetics in a cross-ow membrane bioreactor (MBR) and moving-bed biolm reactor (MBBR) treating old landll leachate. J Membr Sci 286:202212 (2006). Ciudad G, Rubilar O, Munoz P, Chamy G, Vergara C and Jeison D, Partial nitrication of high ammonia concentration wastewater as a part of a shortcut biological nitrogen removal process. Process Biochem 40:17151719 (2005). Hellinga C, Schellen AAJC, Mulder JW, van Loosdrecht MCM and Heijnen JJ, The SHARON process: an innovative method for nitrogen removal from ammonium-rich waste water. Water Sci Technol 37:135142 (1998). Yoo H, Ann KH, Lee HJ, Lee KH, Kwak YJ and Song KG, Nitrogen removal from synthetic wastewater by simultaneous nitrication and denitrication (SND) via nitrite in an intermittently-aerated reactor. Water Res 33:145154 (1999). Vanotti MB and Szogi AA, Water quality improvements of wastewater from conned animal feeding operations after advanced treatment. J Environ Qual 37:8696 (2008). Molinuevo B, Garc a MC, Karakashev D and Angelidaki I, Anammox for ammonia removal from pig manure efuents: effect of organic matter content on process performance. Bioresource Technol 100:21712175 (2008). Li Z, Ma Y, Hira D, Fujii T and Furukawa K, Factors affecting the treatment of reject water by the anammox process. Bioresource Technol 102:57025708 (2011). Tang CJ, Zheng P, Wang CH and Mahmood Q, Suppression of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizers under high organic content in high-rate Anammox UASB reactor. Bioresource Technol 101:17621768 (2010). Rouse JD, Yazaki D, Cheng Y, Koyama T and Furukawa K, Swim-bed technology as an innovative attached-growth process for high-rate wastewater treatment. Jpn J Water Treat Biol 40:115124 (2004). APHA, AWWA, and WPCF: Standard Method for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 19th ed. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC (1995). Van Dongen U, Jetten MSM and van Loosdrecht MCM, The SHARONANAMMOX process for treatment of ammonium rich wastewater. Water Sci Technol 44:153160 (2001). Munz G, Lubello C and Oleszkiewicz JA, Modeling the decay of ammonium oxidizing bacteria. Water Res 45:557564 (2011). Sinha B and Annachhatre AP, Partial nitrication operational parameters and microorganisms involved. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 6:285313 (2007). Wiesmann U, Biological nitrogen removal from wastewater, in Advances in Biochemical Engineering Biotechnology, ed. by Fiechter A. Springer-Verlag, Berlin/Heidelberg, pp. 113154 (1994). Yamamoto T, Wakamatsu S, Qiao S, Hira D, Fujii T and Furukawa K, Partial nitritation and anammox of a livestock manure digester liquor and analysis of its microbial community. Bioresource Technol 102:23422347 (2011). Jianlong W and Ning Y, Partial nitrication under limited dissolved oxygen conditions. Process Biochem 39:12231229 (2004). Chung J, Shim H, Lee YW and Bae W, Comparison of inuence of free ammonia and dissolved oxygen on nitrite accumulation between suspended and attached cells. Environ Technol 26:2133 (2005). Zhang L, Yang J, Hira D, Fujii T and Furukawa K, High-rate partial nitrication treatment of reject water as a pretreatment for anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox). Bioresource Technol 102:37613767 (2011). Metcalf and Eddy , Wastewater Engineering: Treatment and Reuse, 4th edn, McGraw Hill, New York, 1819 (2003). Park S and Bae W, Modeling kinetics of ammonium oxidation and nitrite oxidation under simultaneous inhibition by free ammonia and free nitrous acid. Process Biochem 44:631640 (2009).

13

14

15

16 17

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the National Council for Scientic and Technological Development (CNPq).

18 19

REFERENCES
1 Kunz A, Miele M and Steinmetz R, Advanced swine manure treatment and utilization in Brazil. Bioresource Technol 100:54855489 (2009). 2 Mulder A, van de Graaf AA, Robertson LA and Kuenen JG, Anaerobic ammonium oxidation discovered in a denitrifying uidized bed reactor. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 16:177184 (1995). 3 Fux C, Boehler M, Huber P, Brunner I and Siegrist H, Biological treatment of ammonium-rich wastewater by partial nitritation and subsequent anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) in a pilot plant. J Biotechnol 99:295306 (2002). 4 Strous M, Kuenen JG and Jetten MSM, Key physiology of anaerobic ammonium oxidation. Appl Environ Microbiol 65:32483250 (1999). 5 Jetten MSM, et al, Improved nitrogen removal by application of new nitrogen cycle bacteria. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 1:5163 (2002). 6 Jetten MSM, Strous M, van de Pas-Schoonen KT, Schalk J, Udo van Dongen GJM, van de Graaf AA, et al, The anaerobic oxidation of ammonium. FEMS Microbiol Rev 22:421437 (1999). 7 Tang CJ, Zheng P, Wang CH, Mahmood Q, Zhang JQ, Chen XG, et al, Performance of high-loaded ANAMMOX UASB reactors containing granular sludge. Water Res 45:135144 (2011). 8 Jetten MSM, Wagner M, Fuerst J, van Loosdrecht MCM, Kuenen G and Strous M, Microbiology and application of the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process. Curr Opin Biotechnol 12:283288 (2001). 9 Yamamoto T, Takaki K, Koyama T and Furukawa K, Novel partial nitritation treatment for anaerobic digestion liquor of swine wastewater using swim-bed technology. J Biosci Bioeng 102:497503 (2006). 10 Scheeren MB, Kunz A, Steinmetz RLR and Dressler VL, O processo guas residu ANAMMOX como alternativa para tratamento de a arias, o de nitrogenio. contendo alta concentrac a Rev Bras Eng Agr c Ambiental 15:12891297 (2011). 11 Anthonisen AC, Loehr RC, Prakasam TBS and Srinath EG, Inhibition of nitrication by ammonia and nitrous acid. J Water Pollut Control Fed 48:835852 (1976). 12 Canziani R, Emondi V, Garavaglia M, Malpei F, Pasinetti E and Buttiglieri G, Effect of oxygen concentration on biological

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29

30 31

1647
wileyonlinelibrary.com/jctb

J Chem Technol Biotechnol 2012; 87: 16411647

c 2012 Society of Chemical Industry