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Abstract
The autotrophic nitrogen removal process (partial nitritation combined with the Anammox process) is a new and sustainable nitrogen removal technique for nitrogen‐rich streams. A modelling study has been performed to define optimal process conditions (temperature, oxygen supply, pH and biomass retention) and to investigate the influence of chemical oxygen demand, nitrogen loading rate and hydraulic retention time on three alternative reactor configurations: a single oxygen‐limited partial nitritation reactor, a single Anammox reactor, and a combination of partial nitritation and Anammox in a single reactor. The model applied was compared to experimental data from the literature and gave good agreement for all three reactor configurations. The simulations revealed that a system with separated partial nitritation and Anammox offered a wider range of optimal process conditions than a one‐reactor system. The key factors in the successful operation of partial nitritation were found to be control of aeration, ammonium loading rate and temperature. Heterotrophs remained present in all three reactor systems and it was confirmed that interaction between heterotrophs and Anammox and between heterotrophs and ammonium oxidizers was possible.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT) for financial support (IWT Project 80126). Peter Vanrolleghem, Gurkan Sin and Eveline Volcke are thanked for their numerous productive discussions on autotrophic nitrogen removal modelling.