Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant 0.7 MGD
Denitrification efficiency in wastewater treatment is dependent on several environmental conditions. The wastewater plant must maintain a consistent anoxic zone, abundance of denitrifying microorganisms, and organic carbon source.
For optimum performance, denitrifying bacteria require a low dissolved oxygen region in the treatment process removed from aeration. Having an adequate proportion of these organisms is essential for removing bioavailable nitrogen, nitrate, from raw wastewater.
Discharge to the anoxic zone can contain less carbon than is needed to achieve comprehensive denitrification1.
This is often due to high carbonaceous biological oxygen demand in the aerobic treatment proceeding the anoxic zone. Industrial wastewater can also be low in organic carbon substrate. Consequently, organic carbon is one of the limiting factors for complete denitrification.2 Augmenting treatment systems with an external carbon source can improve the efficiency of this process. The following case study describes the impacts of Candy Carbon® (CC) treatment on nitrate removal at an industrial wastewater facility.
A 0.7 MGD out-door industrial wastewater treatment plant (IWTP) was having issues with their biological nutrient removal. Nitrification was facilitated in the aeration basin, but denitrification was not occurring in the anoxic treatment cell. This caused the discharge to the plant’s settling basin to be high in nitrate. Seeking advice on the issue, the head operator at the facility contacted a BioLynceus® representative. He proposed that the organic carbon loading to the denitrification basin was too low, so the biology needed additional carbon inputs to carry out denitrification.
BioLynceus® CC was applied by pump at the influent of the anoxic zone to provide additional organic carbon. After a month of treatment, efficient denitrification was facilitated in the anoxic basin.
Figure 1. Nitrate concentrations removed from the anoxic zone were monitored at the IWTP for three months before CC treatment and four months after. Nitrate removal values were positive (blue), and nitrate accumulation values were negative (grey).
The proportion of nitrate removal to nitrate accumulation was increased from three to twelve over four months. Identifying a proportion increase demonstrated that the plant experienced fewer periods of incomplete removal during treatment. Improved denitrification helped to reduce nutrient loading to the settling basin. As a result of the CC treatment, the IWTP effluent was higher quality. BioLynceus® provided the facility with a high strength organic carbon source for efficient denitrification.
BioLynceus® Candy Carbon® is a quality organic carbon source for IWTP denitrification.
1 United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2013). Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet: External Carbon Sources for Nitrogen Removal. ( EPA 832-F-13-016). Washington, DC: EPA Office of Wastewater Management. https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=P100IL8F.TXT
2 Gerardi, M. (2006). Wastewater Bacteria. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Pp.86. https://www.amazon.com/Wastewater-Bacteria-Michael-H-Gerardi/dp/0471206911