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Anaerobic ammonia oxidation(Anammox) process is a novel and promising wastewater nitrogen removal process. The feasibility of transition of Anammox from denitrification and the performance of lab-scale Anammox biofilm reactor were investigated with sludge dewatering effluent. The results showed that Anammox process could be successfully started up after cultivation of denitrification biofilm and using it as inoculum. The transition of Anammox from denitrification was accomplished within 85 d. Anammox process was found suitable to remove ammonia from sludge dewatering effluent. The effluent ammonia concentration was detected to be 23.11 mgN/L at HRT of 28 h when influent ammonia concentration was fed 245 mgN/L, which was less than that for the national discharge standard II (25 mgN/L) of China. Volumetric total nitrogen loading rate was up to 584.99 mg TN/(L x d) at HRT of 17 h, while influent concentrations were kept 243.25 mg NH4(+) -N/L and 288.31 mg NO2(-) -N/L.

The effect of elemental sulfur concentration on bioleaching of Cu, Zn and Pb and loss of fertilizer value from sewage sludge was investigated in flasks by batch experiments. The results showed that the ultimate pH of sludges with 3-5 g/L of sulfur added was about 1.3 and the production of SO4(2-) had good correlation with the elemental sulfur concentration. The sensitivity of removal efficiency of metals to sulfur concentration was: Pb > Cu > Zn. The sulfur concentration except for 3-5 g/L had significant effect on the solubilization of Cu, Pb and Zn. The highest solubilization efficiency for sludge with 3 g/L of sulfur was 87.86% for Cu, 32.72% for Pb and 92.14% for Zn, which could make the treated sludge easily meet the metal limitations for land application. The sulfur concentration of 3 g/L was enough for the solubilization of all three heavy metals. The influence of sulfur concentration on solubilization of total nitrogen and potassium from sludge was negligible, but that on solublization of total phosphorus was of great importance. The loss of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium of sludge with 3 g/L of sulfur by bioleaching was 38.2%, 52.1% and 42.8% respectively, and the sludge still remained satisfactory fertilizer value after bioleaching.

Anammox was successfully transited from heterotrophic denitrification and autotrophic denitrification in two upflow biofilm reactors, respectively. The results showed that the volumetric loading rate and nitrogen removal efficiency in the reactor transited from heterotrophic denitrification were higher than that in its counterpart. When the hydraulic retention time was 12 h or so, the total nitrogen loading rate was about 0.609 kg N/(m3 x d), and the effluent ammonia and nitrite concentrations were less than 8.5 mg/L and 2.5 mg/L, respectively. The upflow anammox biofilm reactor was capable of keeping and accumulating the slow-growing bacteria efficiently. During operation of the reactor, the biomass color was gradually turned from brownish to red, and the ratio of ammonia consumption, nitrite consumption and nitrate production approached the theoretical one. These changes could be used as an indicator for working state of the reactor.