A cascade of anoxic and oxic fluidized bed biofilm reactors for treatment of synthetic municipal wastewater

In this study, a cascade of anoxic and oxic fluidized bed biofilm reactors system was carried out to treat synthetic municipal wastewater. The parameters of the influent flow rates and C/N ratios were discussed. System performance was acceptable for chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia, and total nitrogen removal. A decrease of ammonia and total nitrogen removal efficiencies, however, was observed when the influent flow rates increased to 5.04 and 6.12 l h ^-1. Total nitrogen removal decreased at the influent C/N ratio of 3:1. The measured ratios of COD reduction in the anoxic column to nitrogen removal through nitrification-denitrification were 3.7, 3.5, 3.3, and 3.1 g COD/g^-1 N on average when the influent C/N ratios changed from 6:1 to 3:1. The observed sludge yield (Y_obs) was 0.169 g VSS g COD ^-1 because of perfect denitrification in the anoxic column and the relatively long solids retention time.