| Abstract: | Wastewater with high ammonia concentrations is produced by many industries, e.g. in the production of fertilizer and explosives and in the agricultural and food industry. A direct discharge into rivers and lakes has to be avoided: Oxidation of ammonia requires 4.56 g DO/g NH+4-N and results in a decrease of dissolved oxygen concentration. Moreover, nitrate stimulates the proliferation of algae, with regard to the eutrophication of natural waters. For municipal wastewater with an ammonia concentration less than 50 mg/L NH+4-N nitrification is a standard process. However, the removal of higher loaded industrial effluents still poses many questions. Recently, lab-scale and pilot-scale investigations show remarkable advances in the increase in nitrification efficiency and in the stabilization of the process. But because of changing flowrates and concentrations, the aid of advanced control algorithms is necessary. Some of the most important variables of biochemical reactors can be determined only with difficulty, at times only with off-line measurements. Model-aided measurement approaches try to determine these variables indirectly from easily measured variables. An experimentally-proved reactor model is required. Therefore, a dynamic model of nitrification in ideally mixed reactors is proposed based on mass balances for the components ammonia. nitrite, nitrate. dissolved oxygen DO, carbon dioxide, pH. nitrosomonas and nitrobacter. The biological reaction rates consider oxygen limitation and substrate inhibition. The process model presented is tested by lab scale experiments using an aerated stirred tank reactor and a fluidized bed reactor. Conformity between the predictions of the model and the observed data was positive. It has been shown that the nitrite oxidation by nitrobacter is the most sensible step in nitrification. |
