Qualification of Combined System Biofilter and Activated Sludge for Municipal Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the possibilities of using denitrification dephosphatation to enhance biogenic compounds removal in the wastewater treatment plant using a separated nitrification process on a fixed-film. The analysis was based on the multi-variant simulations of the combined system, fixed-film activated sludge performance. Activated sludge ASIM 2D model which is linked to the model of pollutions transformations in fixed-film was used. The analyses were performed based on the input parameters (wastewater averaged daily rate, pH, COD values, total suspended solids, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, total phosphorus, and alkalinity). The results indicated that there is a possibility of including fixed-film in the activated sludge technology in order to improve nitrogen and phosphorus removal from the wastewater. Nitrification process will be performed in fixed-film, whereas nitrogen and phosphorus removal from the wastewater will be performed in anoxic chambers which are operated by the activated sludge technology. Denitrifying dephosphatatio process guarantees a high level of total phosphorus reduction (81%) if the whole easily decomposable substrate is consumed by microorganisms in the anoxic chamber in the presence of enough nitrates.

Keywords: Activated sludge, Denitrifying, Dephosphatation, Fixed-film, Mathematical modeling