• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.852-859
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• 2006

The novel microbial process such as Anammox(anaerobic ammonium oxidation) and Canon(completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite) processes is promising biotechnology to remove nitrogen from ammonium-rich wastewater like anaerobic sludge digester liquid. In this research, a new Canon-type nitrogen removal process adopting upflow granular sludge bed type configuration was investigated on its feasibility and process performance, using synthetic wastewater and sludge digester liquids. Air as an oxygen source was provided in an external aeration chamber with flow recirculation. In the first experiment using the synthetic wastewater(up to 110 mg $NH_4$-N $L^{-1}$), the ammonium removal was about 95%(92% for T-N) at effective hydraulic retention time(HRT) for 3.8 days. In the second experiment using the sludge digester liquids($438{\pm}26$ mg $NH_4$-N $L^{-1}$), the total nitrogen removal was $94{\pm}1.7%$ at HRT for 5.4 days and $76{\pm}1.5%$ at HRT for 3.8 days, respectively. Little nitrite and nitrate were observed in the effluent of both experiments. The process revealed quite a lower oxygen($0.29{\sim}0.59$ g $O_2$ $g^{-1}N$) and less alkalinity($3.1{\sim}3.4$ g $CaCO_3$ $g^{-1}N$) consumption as compared to other new technology in microbial nitrogen removal. The process also offers the economical compact reactor configuration with excellent biomass retention, resulting in lower cost for investment and maintenance.