There is an urgent need to develop ammonia removal treatment systems for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment due to the increasingly stringent ammonia effluent discharge regulations implemented by Canada, the United States, and the European Union. The objective of this dissertation is to develop new understanding and advance the current design and operation of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) removal via the moving bed biofilm reactor technology (MBBR) for municipal and industrial wastewaters. The first specific objective is to develop a passive, low operationally intensive, efficient and robust design strategy for municipal wastewater treatment to achieve partial nitritation (PN) as a pre-treatment to anammox treatment without using control strategies such as operating at low dissolved oxygen, or the use of inhibitors. This first objective includes developing new knowledge of the biofilm, biomass and microbiome of attached growth PN systems. The second specific objective is to investigate the impact of defining a maximum biofilm thickness, via bio-carrier design, to enhance the effects of free nitrous acid inhibition for PN of municipal wastewaters. The third objective is to investigate the effect of influent copper concentration on nitrifying MBBR systems over long-term operations, to demonstrate the feasibility of the nitrifying MBBR as a solution for TAN removal from gold mining wastewaters. The results pertaining to the first objective, achieved via a study investigating the operation of a nitrifying moving bed biofilm reactor at elevated TAN surface area loading rates (SALRs) of 3, 4, 5, and 6.5 g TAN/m²∙d with the aim of achieving passive PN, demonstrates that operating at a TAN SALR value of 6.5 g TAN/m²∙d can achieve PN without restricting dissolved oxygen or using inhibitors. Operating at a TAN SALR value of 6.5 g TAN/m²∙d achieves a TAN surface area removal rate (SARR) of 3.5 g TAN/m²∙d, and a nitrite accumulation of 99.8% of the oxidized TAN, demonstrating the suppression of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) activity, while achieving elevated TAN SARR values. At the molecular-scale, there is a statistically significant change in the ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) to NOB ratio from 1:2.6 to 8.7:1 as the TAN SALR increases from 3 to 6.5 g TAN/m²∙d; however, even at a TAN SALR value of 6.5 g TAN/m²∙d there is an NOB abundance of approximately 2%; thus demonstrating that NOB remain present in the biofilm, while their activity is suppressed by operation at elevated TAN SALR values. Furthermore, this system was shown to achieve stable PN consistently for over a period of 10 months of operation, demonstrating a robust, passive, low operational strategy for attached growth PN. The second objective of this dissertation is addressed through a study that compared the carrier design of defined maximal biofilm thickness (z-prototype carrier) to undefined maximal biofilm thickness (chip-prototype carrier) for PN via free nitrous acid inhibition of tertiary, low carbon, municipal wastewaters. The study demonstrates that defined maximal biofilm thickness is a preferred design choice to achieve attached growth PN. The chip-prototype carrier shows biofilm thicknesses and biofilm mass values that are ten-fold higher than the z-prototype carrier, which is shown to contribute to the impact of free nitrous acid on AOB and NOB activities. The z-prototype carrier shows PN is achieved after 3 hours of exposure to free nitrous acid while the chip-prototype carrier does not achieve PN within this same time of exposure. Therefore, the defined maximal biofilm thickness carrier is identified in this research as the preferred design option to achieve attached growth PN for municipal, low carbon, tertiary wastewater treatment. The results of the third objective, achieved via a study investigating the effects of influent copper concentrations on nitrifying MBBR during long term operations to gold mining wastewaters, demonstrates that there is no AOB inhibition in attached growth systems exposed to 0.1, 0.3, 0.45, and 0.6 mg Cu/L for long exposure times. A trend of increasing nitrite accumulation with increasing influent copper concentrations is shown, indicating that NOB inhibition occurs at influent copper concentrations of 0.3 mg Cu/L and greater, with the greatest NOB inhibition observed with an influent copper concentration of 0.6 mg/L. There is no statistically significant difference in biofilm characteristics at the copper concentrations tested; however, there is a trend of increasing biofilm thickness and biofilm roughness with increasing copper concentrations. This study demonstrates the resilience of the nitrifying biofilm to copper inhibition and demonstrates that the nitrifying MBBR is a promising system for removing TAN in mining wastewater in the presence of copper.

Els lixiviats d'abocadors urbans són aigües residuals altament contaminades, que es caracteritzen per les elevades concentracions d'amoni i el baix contingut de matèria orgànica biodegradable. El tractament dels lixiviats a través dels processos de nitrificació-desnitrificació convencionals és costós a causa de la seva elevada demanda d'oxigen i la necessitat d'addició d'una font de carboni externa. En els darrers anys, la viabilitat del tractament d'aquest tipus d'afluents per un procés combinat de nitritació parcial-anammox ha estat demostrada. Aquesta tesi es centra en el tractament de lixiviats d'abocador a través d'un procés de nitritació parcial en SBR, com un pas preparatori per a un reactor anammox. Els resultats de l'estudi han demostrat la viabilitat d'aquesta tecnologia per al tractament de lixiviats d'abocador. El treball va evolucionar des d'una escala inicial de laboratori, on el procés va ser testat inicialment, a uns exitosos experiments d'operació a llarg termini a escala pilot. Finalment, la tesi també inclou el desenvolupament, calibració i validació d'un model matemàtic del procés, que té com a objectiu augmentar el coneixement del procés. / Urban landfill leachate are highly contaminated wastewater, usually characterised by high ammonium concentrations and low biodegradable organic matter content. Treating leachate through conventional nitrification-denitrification processes is expensive due to its high oxygen demand and the requirement of a supplementary external carbon source. In recent years, the feasibility of treating such streams with a low C:N ratio by a combined partial nitritation-anammox process has been demonstrated. This thesis deals with the treatment of landfill leachate by a partial nitritation-SBR, as a preparative step for an anammox reactor. The results of the study have demonstrated the feasibility of this technology for the treatment of landfill leachate. The work evolved from initial lab-scale studies, where the process was first tested, to a successful long-term experiment at pilot-scale. In addition, the thesis also includes the development, calibration and validation of a mathematical model of the process, aiming at increasing process knowledge.

Research was performed at a pilot-scale wastewater treatment plant operating an adsorption/bio-oxidation (A/B) process at 20C. The study compared B-Stage performance under DO Control, Ammonia Based Aeration Control (ABAC), and Ammonia vs. NOx (AvN) control. AvN in 1) fully-intermittent and 2) intermittently-aerated MLE configurations was compared to DO Control and ABAC, each with continuous aeration, in an MLE configuration. The study also examined operation of each aeration strategy with two different feed types: A-Stage effluent (ASE) and primary clarifier effluent (PCE). Operating modes were compared on the basis of nitrogen removal performance, COD utilization efficiency for denitrification, and alkalinity consumption. AvN was found to provide comparable nitrogen removal performance to DO Control and ABAC. The highest nitrogen removal performance was seen when operating DO Control (81.4 ± 1.2%) and ABAC (81.1 ± 1.2%) with PCE. High nitrogen removal efficiency (77.5 ± 6.1%) was seen when fully-intermittent AvN operation was fed ASE containing a high particulate COD fraction. A high effluent nitrite accumulation ratio (NAR = NO2-/(NO2-+NO3-)) was seen during this period (46 ± 15%) accompanied by the out-selection of Nitrospira. Feeding effluent from AvN control to an Anammox MBBR improved removal efficiency. Increased soluble COD loading resulted in greater nitrogen removal with strategies operating in an MLE configuration while particulate COD was found to be important for processes where removal was designed to occur in downstream reactors. Efficiency of COD for denitrification was found to vary based on the amount and type of influent COD; however AvN in an MLE configuration was found to use COD more efficiently than fully-intermittent AvN. In either configuration, AvN required less alkalinity addition than DO Control or ABAC. High sCOD concentrations in PCE led to increased nutrient removal as compared to ASE but increased heterotrophic growth and mixed liquor concentrations in the B-Stage making the A-Stage an attractive option for its ability to control the C/N ratio fed to BNR processes. / Master of Science

Partial Nitritation/Anammox process (deammonification process), by which occurs oxidation of ammonium to nitrogen gas by autotrophic bacteria in anaerobic conditions, considered to be cost-effective and environmentally friendly method of nitrogen removal. Present research work focuses on achieving a high nitrogen removal degree, thanks to Anammox bacteria, while providing the best performance of the ongoing process. Integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) reactor was supplied with the main stream of the wastewater after UASB reactor, characterized by low concentration of nitrogen and organic matter. The bacteria ability to accommodate, were tested in the biofilm and in the activated sludge, depending on the different stages in which the process were being conducted. Batch test, such as Specific Anammox Activity (SAA), Nitrate Uptake Rate (NUR) and Oxygen Uptake Rate (OUR), were used for the evaluation of activity of various groups of bacteria. On the basis of laboratory analysis verified the values obtained from the batch tests. It was determined that a high degree of nitrogen removal (92% of NH4-N) was achieved thanks to the dominant activity of the Anammox bacteria, with low participation of other groups of bacteria. It was also proved, that Anammox bacteria activity were overwhelming in the biofilm. Dominant role of Ammonium Oxidizing Bacteria (AOB) was associated with high activity of Anammox bacteria, which together satisfyingly out-competed Nitrite Oxidizing Bacteria (NOB) and heterotrophic bacteria. It has been shown that Anammox bacteria quickly adapt to the new conditions and they are able to assume a dominant role, even in the case of inoculation of the reactor with the sludge from SBR. This allows conclude, that in the case of operational problems, the reactor can be supplied from another source, in order not to inhibit the process.