Start up and Stabilization of Anammox Process in an Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (an MBR)

Abstract

Release of nitrate and ammonia rich wastewaters into the natural waters promotes eutrophication, aquatic toxicity and deterioration in water quality. Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidation (ANAMMOX) process is an advanced biological nitrogen removal alternative to traditional nitrification – denitrification, which removes ammonia using nitrite as the electron acceptor without oxygen. The feasibility to enrich ANAMMOX bacteria from anaerobic seed culture to start up an Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (An MBR) for N – removal is reported in this paper. The seed culture used was anaerobic digester sludge collected from a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Chennai. Stabilization performance of An MBR is reported for a period of 250 days, for the presence of ANAMMOX bacteria and its sustained activity in terms of Nitrogen transformations to Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate along with Hydrazine and Hydroxylamine.