Simultaneous Removal of Nitrogen, Carbon and Phosphorous from Wastewater Using a Simple Bioreactor

Abstract

The removals of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) from wastewater in multi stage reactors have been widely practiced worldwide. However, simultaneous removal of C and nutrients has proven to be difficult. A laboratory scale bioreactor was operated to treat synthetic wastewater. At mean temperature of 28° and HRT of 8 h, an average COD removal efficiency and BOD removal efficiencies were 65.0 ± 26.0 % and 87.8 ± 6.0%, respectively. The total N removal efficiency and P removal efficiency were 86.8 ± 13.9 % and 89.7 ± 4.6%, respectively. The sudden increase in substrate loading rate to the reactor cause drastically decreases in reactor performances. The results of this study revealed that the bioreactor was feasible to use to treat C, N, and P simultaneously at low substrate loading rates.