Autotrophic Biological Denitrification for Complete Removal of Nitrogen from Septic System Wastewater |
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Authors: | Sukalyan Sengupta Sarina J. Ergas Erika Lopez-Luna Asish K. Sahu Kumaravel Palaniswamy |
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Affiliation: | (1) Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA;(2) Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, USA;(3) Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dartmouth, USA |
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Abstract: | The overall objective of this research was to develop a reliable, robust, and maintenance-free passive system for biological denitrification in on-site wastewater treatment systems. The process relies on sulfur oxidizing denitrifying bacteria in upflow packed bioreactors. Since this process consumes alkalinity, it is necessary to add a solid-phase buffer that can scavenge the H+ as it is generated by the biologically-mediated reaction and arrest the drop in the pH value. This study investigated the use of limestone, marble chips and crushed oyster shell as solid-phase buffers that provide alkalinity. Two bench-scale upflow column reactors and two field-scale bioreactors were constructed and packed with sulfur pellets and an alkalinity source. The pilot scale bioreactors (∼200 L each) were installed at the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center (MASSTC) in Sandwich, MA. The pilot-scale bioreactors performed better when oyster shell was used as the solid-phase buffer vis-à-vis marble chips. In both (pilot-scale and laboratory-scale) systems, denitrification rates were high with the effluent NO3 − —N concentration consistently below 8 mg/L. |
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Keywords: | Alkalinity denitrification marble chips nitrate oyster shell pH sulfur |
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