ARS | Publication request: Anammox treatment of swine wastewater using immobilized technology

Submitted to: Recycling of Agricultural Municipal and Industrial Residues
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: September 13, 2010
Publication Date: September 13, 2010
Citation: Magri, A., Vanotti, M.B., Szogi, A.A. 2010. Anammox treatment of swine wastewater using immobilized technology. In: Proceedings of the 14th Ramiran International Conference, September 12-15, 2010, Lisboa, Portugal. 4 p. 2010 CDROM.

Technical Abstract: Partial nitrification (PN) coupled with anaerobic oxidation of ammonium (anammox) stands for a totally autotrophic strategy for the removal of nitrogen. This new bioprocess is particularly useful for the treatment of wastewaters with a high ammonium concentration and a low organic load such as livestock effluents from anaerobic digestion or solid-liquid separators. A new bacteria strain Candidatus “Brocadia caroliniensis” was identified and isolated in anammox enrichment started-up from animal waste sludge. In this research, we addressed the implementation of the anammox process for the treatment of swine wastewaters using microbial immobilization techniques such as surficial attachment and gel carrier entrapment. The use of immobilization enhanced anammox biomass retention inside the reactors minimizing risk of washout and resulted in high nitrogen removal rates, of up to 1.48 kg N m-3/d. Since the PN-anammox process uses 60% less aeration than conventional nitrification-denitrification strategy, these findings overall may lead to the development of more economical treatment systems for swine wastewater effluents.