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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Florence, South Carolina » Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #206642
Title: Development of anammox process for animal waste treatment: Experiences in Brazil

Author
item KUNZ, AIRTON - EMBRAPA, BRAZIL
item Vanotti, Matias
item Szogi, Ariel
item GARCIA, MARI - CASTILLA-LEON, SPAIN
item NETO, GUILHERME - UFSC, BRAZIL
item SOARES, HUGO - UFSC, BRAZIL

Submitted to: Air and Waste Management Annual Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2007
Publication Date: 9/16/2007
Citation: Kunz, A., Vanotti, M.B., Szogi, A.A., Garcia, M.C., Neto, G.S., Soares, H. 2007. Development of anammox process for animal waste treatment: Experiences in Brazil. In: International Symposium on Air Quality and Waste Management for Agriculture, 16-19 September, Broomfield, Colorado. 4 p. 2007 CDROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The isolation of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria adapted to animal wastewater environments can be of significant importance to farming systems, because excess ammonia in modern, industrial-type livestock production is a global problem, and the use of conventional biological nitrogen (N) removal methods is usually hindered by cost. Thus, we think that the more economical anammox based treatment can greatly facilitate adoption of advanced wastewater treatment technologies by farmers. Research was conducted to develop process applications for anammox bacteria acclimated to animal wastewater conditions using microbial immobilization techniques. Traditionally, removal of N from wastewater uses a combination of nitrification and denitrification. Nitrification consumes large amounts of oxygen to convert ammonium into nitrate, while denitrification requires addition of organic carbon to convert nitrate into N2 gas. The sludges containing anammox bacteria were obtained from a swine farm in Santa Catarina, Brazil. The sludges were obtained from sediment in an old (inactive) anaerobic lagoon used to treat swine manure. Laboratory bioreactors were seeded with the manure sludges after acclimation with nitrate solution to remove endogenous carbon. A distinct red biomass growth, which is typical of the anammox planctomycete bacteria, developed in the reactors. Under these conditions and protocol, it took about 75 days for the anammox reaction to develop from farm sludges. As biomass carrier, the reactors used a net type acryl-resin fiber material designed to enhance retention of microorganisms. These findings overall may lead to development of more economical treatment systems for livestock wastewater and other effluents containing high ammonia concentration.