Iron-enhanced primary sedimentation and acidogenic sludge fermentation to achieve self-sufficient organic carbon supply for enhanced nutrient removal in wastewater treatment✰

Abstract To treat municipal wastewater with a low carbon to nitrogen ratio, the addition of an external carbon source is often needed to achieve enhanced nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) removal. To meet this need, this research developed an innovative strategy for reserving and utilizing organic pollutants to achieve a self-sufficient organic carbon supply for wastewater treatment. In the new system, before biological treatment by a sequencing batch reactor (SBR), Fe-based chemically enhanced primary sedimentation (CEPS) was used to reserve part of the organics from the wastewater in the CEPS sludge. By acidogenic fermentation in the side-stream, the settled organics in the CEPS sludge were converted into volatile fatty acids and other soluble organics to provide a suitable carbon source for denitrification in the anoxic phase of the SBR. The experimental results showed that the new SBR system integrated with CEPS and acidogenic sludge fermentation removed up to 89% of the total phosphorus (TP) and 83% of the total nitrogen (TN) from the wastewater. Compared with the conventional SBR system, TP and TN removal was increased by more than 65% and 50%, respectively. As well as increasing nutrient removal efficiency without the need for external carbon addition, the Fe-based CEPS greatly reduced the organic load on the SBR biological treatment process, reducing the aeration cost. Overall, a cost-effective wastewater treatment process is developed that can be used to upgrade existing wastewater treatment plants to improve the nutrient removal performance and meet more stringent discharge standards.