Effects of dissolved oxygen on biological nitrogen removal in integrated fixed film activated sludge (IFAS) wastewater treatment process.

The objective of this research was to determine the effects of dissolved oxygen on the biological nitrogen removal in the Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) and Modified Ludzack-Ettinger (MLE) systems. The carbonaceous and nitrogen removals were investigated at the COD/Nitrogen (C/N) ratios of 4, 6, and 10, and the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations of 2, 4, and 6 mg/L. The experimental results indicate that the C/N ratios of 4, 6, and 10 and the DO concentrations of 2, 4, and 6 affected insignificantly on the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, but significantly on the nitrogen removal as the consequences of different nitrification and denitrifcation rates in both systems. The COD removal was nearly completed throughout this study because glucose was used as a primary carbon source in the wastewater and both systems were operated at high SRT relative to the minimum SRT requirement for COD removal. The experimental conditions used in this study apparently led to nitrite accumulation in both IFAS and MLE systems. It is suggested that there is no benefit of installing media in the IFAS system at the C/N ratio of 10 because the system was underloaded with the nitrogen. The lower DO concentration, the greater denitrification in the anoxic zone was achieved because nitrite nitrogen was used as an electron acceptor. At the C/N ratios of 4 and 6, the IFAS system was higher in capacity for nitrification as a result of attached biomass on the support media in the aerobic zone. The DO concentration of 6 mg/L is required to maximize the nitrification rates in the systems under these experimental conditions resulting in greater oxidized nitrogen for denitrification in the anoxic zones. The denitrification in the aerobic zone of the IFAS system is not evaluated due to unavailability of nitrite information. The optimal DO concentrations for biological nitrogen removal in the IFAS system at the C/N ratios of 4, 6, and 10 in this study were 6, 6, and 2 mg/L, respectively.