Nitrogen removal from wastewater with a low COD/N ratio at a low oxygen concentration

The goal of the study was to determine the effectiveness of nitrification and denitrification and the kinetics of ammonia removal from a mixture of wastewater and anaerobic sludge digester supernatant in an SBR at limited oxygen concentration. In addition, the COD removal efficiency and sludge production were assessed. SBR cycle alternating aerobic and anaerobic phases occurred; in the aeration phase the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration was below 0.7 mg O2/L. The low DO concentration did not inhibit ammonia oxidation–nitrification and the efficiency was ca. 96–98%. However, a relatively high COD concentration in the effluent was detected. The values of Km and Vmax, calculated from the Michaelis–Menten equation, were 43 mg N–NH4/L and 15.64 mg N–NH4/L h, respectively. Activated sludge production was almost stable (0.62–0.66 g MLVSS/g COD). A high net biomass production resulted from a low specific biomass decay rate of 0.0015 d−1.