WEFTEC 2009

Fixed Media IFAS in Contact Stabilization Zone

Mario Benisch1*, Dave Clark2, Sid Hendrickson3, JB Neethling, PhD4

1
HDR Portland, OR
2
HDR Boise
3
City of Coeur d’Alene, Coeur d’Alene, ID
4
HDR Sacramento, CA

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: Mario.Benisch@hdrinc.com

Keywords: IFAS, Fixed Media, Nitrification, Trickling Filter/Solids Contact

ABSTRACT

The City of Coeur d’Alene wastewater treatment plant is operating at its capacity, yet continue to
increase and lower ammonia limits are looming for 2009 or 2010. The planned facility expansion
won’t be online until 2014.
During spring of 2008, five 30,000 ft2 of IFAS media were installed to test the potential of integrated
fixed film activated sludge (IFAS) to improve nitrification. Because this facility is a trickling
filter/contact stabilization (TF/CS) plant, the success of an IFAS upgrade was not certain due to the
short hydraulic retention time and a low achievable suspended growth SRT.
The results from the first season were encouraging. Once the process stabilized, the monthly average
effluent ammonia concentration was lower than during any month in recent years. Taking into
account the change in plant loading and the additional ammonia reduction, the estimated nitrification
capacity of the installed IFAS media was between 80 lb/d and 120 lb/d in September 2008.
Additional media was installed in May 2009.

BACKGROUND

The Coeur d’Alene wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) (Figure 1) discharges into the Spokane
River, a watershed with one of the toughest discharge requirements in the United States. Future
effluent standards require phosphorus compliance that pushes the existing capabilities of technology.
Ammonia standards are less restrictive. From July 1st through September 30th monthly average
effluent ammonia cannot exceed 10 mg/L until monthly average flows exceed 4.2 MGD. At that
point the effluent ammonia limit drops to 7.2 mg/L.
New facilities designed to comply with these and the new limits may not be online until 2015. In the
meantime, the required ammonia removal exceeds the nitrification capacity of the existing facility.
In order to provide the necessary permit compliance without major facility upgrades, integrated fixed
film activated sludge (IFAS) technology was introduces prior to the 2008 ammonia permit season.
IFAS technology has a 30-year history but no known trickling filter/contact stabilization facility has
ever been equipped with IFAS technology. Because of this underlying uncertainty about the
potential of the IFAS at Coeur d’Alene, only a small amount of media was introduced in June of
2008. Based on the encouraging result from the first nitrification season with IFAS media, additional
modules were installed in May of 2009.

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Figure 2 shows a process schematic of the Coeur d’Alene WWTP with the IFAS media. Raw
influent is screened and degritted before primary clarification. Primary effluent is pumped to two
trickling filters, which are presently loaded between 40 pounds of biological oxygen demand (BOD)
per 1,000 cubic feet (cf) and 50 pounds of BOD per 1,000 cf. Trickling filter effluent is polished in
the solids contact basins, which have a hydraulic retention time of 20 to 30 minutes. After secondary
clarification, the effluent is disinfected with chlorine before discharge into the Spokane River.
Return activated sludge (RAS) is pumped from the secondary clarifiers to the RAS storage basins
from where it flows to the solids contact tanks. Primary and secondary solids are thickened and
followed by anaerobic digestion. Digested sludge is dewatered and sent to a composting facility. The
dewatering centrate is retuned to the trickling filter influent from the centrate storage tank.

Primary Clarifiers Headworks

Trickling Filter

Secondary Clarifier

Contact Stabilization

Gravity Thickeners

Disinfection RAS Reaeration Anaerobic Digesters

Figure 1: Area view of the Coeur d’Alene WWTP

Figure 2: Coeur d’Alene process schematic after the IFAS installation

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 WEFTEC 2009

Figure 3 shows a schematic plan view of the solids contact and RAS storage basins after the 2008
IFAS upgrade. Figure 4 shows the schematic plan view after the 2009 IFAS addition.
In addition to the IFAS modules installed in the RAS storage basins in 2009, the trickling filter
effluent distribution was changed to provide trickling filter effluent ammonia to the IFAS media in
the RAS storage basins. Now 25 percent (each) of the trickling filter effluent can be sent to two RAS
storage basins, the rest is discharged into the solids contact tanks.

RAS
RAS - Reaeration To SCL

Contact Stabilization

IFAS Modules

RAS - Reaeration

RAS - Reaeration

TFE

Figure 3: Flow Schematic of Solids Contact and RAS Storage (2008)

RAS
RAS - Reaeration To SCL

Contact Stabilization

IFAS Modules

TFE

Figure 4: Flow Schematic of Solids Contact and RAS Storage (2009)

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 WEFTEC 2009

Average flows to the plant in 2008 were 4.0 MGD. Currently effluent ammonia concentrations are
limited to 10 mg/L between July and September. However, when monthly average flows reach 4.2
MGD it drops to 7.2 mg/L. In past years, the plant has met the 10 mg/L limit just barely, but permit
violations were inevitable for flows over 4.2 MGD without additional improvements.

METHODS/APPROACH

The first set of web media modules (Figure 5) for the solids contact basins was installed in June of
2008. In May of 2009, the second set of modules was installed in the RAS storage tanks; together
with 30,000 ft2 of web media. The installation itself included draining the basins, bolting the
modules to the basin floor and connecting the scour air. The down time for each installation was
limited to 24 hours. The routine sampling plan was expanded to capture the nitrification performance
of the IFAS media. In addition, a batch testing tank was used to measure the nitrification of the
media biofilm on the sample coupons as well as for visual inspection of the biofilm (Figure 6).
Based on the design, operators were maintaining a mixed liquor concentration of 2,500 mg/L in the
solids contact tanks.

Figure 5: IFAS Installation at Coeur d’Alene WWTP (Entex BioWeb)

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 WEFTEC 2009

Figure 6: IFAS Media Coupon Nitrification Test

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

After commissioning in June 2008 and only several weeks for the media to build up a biofilm, the
July monthly average effluent ammonia was 12 mg/L, similar to previous years. Two additional
circumstances contributed to the slow pace of improvement. Influent temperatures were two degrees
Celsius lower than in past years due to an unseasonably long winter. This reduced the growth rate of
the nitrifiers and ability to establish growth on the media. In addition, one secondary clarifier was
out of service for maintenance during the startup time, which required a lower mixed liquor
suspended solids (MLSS) concentration on the solids containment tank.
Beginning mid-August 2008, the performance improved steadily and by the end of September the
performance improved over previous years. Figure 7 shows an overlay of annual effluent ammonia
concentrations from 2006 to 2009. The chart shows that, while the effluent ammonia target of 10
mg/L was not met initially in July, the IFAS media did improve nitrification performance. In 2009,
now with more media installed, nitrification performance improved further compared to last year
under similar loading conditions.. Figure 8 compares the permit relevant monthly average of effluent
ammonia between June and October from 2006 to 2009. The
The improvements are even more evident when looking at the ammonia load removed. Figure 9
shows an overlay of the 30-day average ammonia load removal from 2006 to 2009. This chart shows
that 2008 had the highest ammonia load removed.
By the end of 2008, the nitrification performance quickly deteriorated. It was later discovered that
the scouring air was insufficient and that the media had excessive growth (Figure 11), which
subsequently reduced the active media surface. Upon this discovery the basin was drained, the media
was hosed off, and the scour air was increased.
Once the media scouring problem was corrected, the ammonia removal quickly recovered and by the
end of February the ammonia removal performance exceeded those of the past three years (Figure
7). The ammonia removal increased again after the 2009 improvements and it is expected to improve
even further over the course of the summer. The ability of the trickling filter to contribute some
nitrification depends on their loading. The increased trickling filter BOD load reduced the ability of

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the trickling filter to grow nitrifiers and seed the downstream contact stabilization process.
Typically, nitrifying trickling filters would have a load of less then 15 lb BOD /1,000 cf /d.
Figure 10 shows an overlay of the plant influent BOD load from 2006 to 2009. The chart shows a
significant increase in BOD loads after 2007, which spans from January to July. The source of this
increase remains unknown. The BOD load increase can be seen at similar rates in the primary
effluent and trickling filter effluent.
In 2008, the load peaked at 50 lb BOD /1,000 cf/d. Figure 17 shows the same relationship between
trickling filter BOD loads against effluent ammonia. While the correlation is not very strong, the
overall trend is very apparent. Not only does the effluent ammonia increase with an increasing BOD
load, the reliability of the process decreases, evident in a wider range of effluent ammonia
concentrations with an increasing trickling filter BOD load.
It is difficult to quantify the impact of the additional BOD load exactly, but the data suggest that the
increased load reduced the trickling filter ammonia removal contribution.
In order to determine the biofilm nitrification capacity the sample media coupons were placed in a
batch tank (Figure 2). After placing the coupon in the tank it was filled with trickling filter effluent
and aerated for one hour. The media alone removed about 35 pounds of NH4/d, roughly 1 mg/L or
1.1 pounds of NH4-N per 1,000 ft2 of media. The nitrification capacity of trickling filter/solids
contact system however, is estimated to be between 80 and 120 pounds per day (lb/d) based on the
performance from September to October 2008. Meaning, the biofilm directly only contribute 25% of
the total IFAS nitrification capacity. ,
Maintaining the suspended biomass at the target level is extremely important because the suspended
biomass in the IFAS system at Coeur d’Alene appears to account for the majority of the nitrification.
The difference between the biofilm nitrification capacity and the overall increase in ammonia
removal highlights this important aspect of the IFAS system. Empirically, that was confirmed any
time the solid contact basins lost significant amounts of biomass due to problems with the waste
activated sludge (WAS) control, which resulted in an immediate reduction in nitrification.
Overall, the results were encouraging enough to install the additional media modules, which are
expected to increase the ammonia removal capacity by 120 to 160 lb/d.

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 WEFTEC 2009

30

25

Effluent NH4-N [mg/L]

20

15

10

0
Jan Feb Apr May Jul Sep Oct Dec

2006 2007 2008 2009

Figure 7: 30-day effluent ammonia concentration overlay of data from 2006 - 2009

18 Ammonia Season
Limit @ <4.2
16

14 Limit @ > 4.2

12
NH4-N [mg/L]

10

0
June July August September October

2006 2007 2008 2009

Figure 8: Monthly average ammonia for 2006 – 2008

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900

800

700

NH4-N Load Removed [lb/d]

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
Jan Feb Apr May Jul Sep Oct Dec

2006 2007 2008 2009

Figure 9: Ammonia Load removal from 2006 to 2009

10000

9000

8000

7000
INF BOD Load [lb/d]

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
Jan Feb Apr May Jul Sep Oct Dec

2006 2007 2008 2009

Figure 10: Influent BOD Load form 2006 to 2009

Figure 11: IFAS media with excessive growth

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25.0

20.0

15.0
EFF, NH4-N mg/L

10.0

5.0

0.0
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
TF, BOD Load - 30 Day Average lb/1000 cf

Figure 12: Relationship of trickling filter BOD load and effluent ammonia

CONCLUSIONS

Installing fixed media in a trickling filter/solids contact (TF/SC) process (operated in contact
stabilization mode) improved the ability to the process to nitrify. The media was placed in the
contact zone. Much of the nitrification occurred in the reaeration basin.
At least 8 to 12 weeks of acclimation time may be required for the IFAS system to reach stable
conditions. After three months, the nitrification capacity increase associated with the 2008 media
installation reached 80 to 120 lb/d or 2.6 to 4.0 mg/L per 1,000 ft2 of media.
Media scouring is a critical element of the IFAS system operation. Excessive growth on the media
can significantly impair the nitrification capacity as it reduces the active media surface and limit the
ability of oxygen to penetrate the biofilm.
Maintaining the suspended biomass is important for the IFAS system for the TF/SC style
application. This is amplified at this facility due to the short hydraulic retention time and short solids
retention time (2 to 3 days). The media alone only provides 25 percent of the nitrification capacity
the IFAS system as whole provides. The loss of suspended biomass (through overwasting, for
example) causes an immediate reduction in nitrification performance.
The additional media modules installed in 2009 already have shown the expected increase in
nitrification performance, but due to its short run time its net contribution cannot yet be determined.

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REFERENCES

Sarah B. Hubbell, COLD TEMPERATURE BNR USING INTEGRATED

FIXEDFILM/ACTIVATED SLUDGE (IFAS) HYBRID TECHNOLOGY, WEFTEC 2003
Proceedings.
Hyun-su Kim1, Sarah Hubbell2, Joshua P. Boltz3, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT
INTEGRATED FIXED-FILM/ACTIVATED SLUDGE (IFAS) IN A BNR PILOT PLANT,

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