Comparison of intermittently aerated continuous and batch biofilm reactor in nutrient removal

Abstract

Removal efficiency of TOC ranged between 86–89% in an intermittently aerated reactor. High efficiency in TKN removal and nitrification was found at lower applied load or longer retention time such as 2 days. TKN removal and nitrification efficiency was found to be 17–96% and 35–99% respectively. Through examination and comparison of the removal efficiencies, the stability of nitrification/denitrification and the biological phosphorus removal it was found that the sequencing batch feeding system gave a higher performance in total nitrogen and phosphorus removals. In the SBR reactor, nitrogen removal efficiency was mainly controlled by organic loading. Nitrification efficiency ranged between 31–56%. Nearly complete denitrification was observed in the sequencing batch reactor.