Nitrogen removal and performance deterioration in digested effluent treatment by partial nitrification-anammox (PNA) process based on aeration sedimentation integrated microaerobic reactor (ASIMR).

• An aeration sedimentation integrated microaerobic reactor were developed. • When the HRT was 4.45 h, ASIMR achieved the highest NRR, 3.15 kg·(m3 d)-1. • When the HRT less than 4.45 h, the performance of ASIMR was deteriorated. • The deterioration was due to the loss of nitrified sludge and iron deficiency. • ASIMR is suitable for scaling up of PN/A process to treat digested effluent. The existing microaerobic reactors for PN/A process have the drawbacks of complex structure and hard to scale-up in full scale application. Aiming at these problems, we have designed new aeration sedimentation integrated microaerobic reactor (ASIMR). The feasibility of ASIMR for PN/A processes and the optimal HRT were explored by gradually reducing the hydraulic retention time (HRT). When the HRT was 4.45 h and the NLR was 3.98 kg·(m3·d)-1, ASIMR achieved the highest nitrogen removal performance, with the ammonia nitrogen removal efficiency (ARE) and total nitrogen removal efficiency (NRE) of 90.5 % and 79.2 %, respectively, and the total nitrogen removal rate (NRR) could reach 3.15 kg·(m3·d)-1. When HRT decreased to 3.60 h with the NLR of 4.76 kg·(m3·d)-1, the performance deterioration was observed, with ARE and NRE decreasing to 35.9 % and 12.4 %, and NRR decreasing to 0.59 kg·(m3·d)-1. The main reasons for the decrease in nitrogen removal performance were overhigh hydraulic load in the sedimentation zone which led to the loss of nitrifying sludge. The loss of nitrifying sludge in turn reduced the efficiency of ammonia nitrogen removal resulting in the accumulation of free ammonia (FA) which inhibited the activity of nitrogen removal functional bacteria. Although reactor performance deteriorated at too low HRT, when the HRT was much than 4.45 h, ASIMR could achieve a good performance for nitrogen removal owe to the combined action of reactor design, enriched nitrified and anammox sludge as inoculum, and dissolved oxygen control. Except good nitrogen removal performance, ASIMR has another advantage, such as simple structure, low cost for manufacture, and more suitable for engineering scale-up in full scale application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]