Feasibility of an innovative integrated process of simultaneous desulfurization and denitrification for high strength wastewater

摘要

An anaerobic expanding-bed reactor was adopted to investigate the feasibility of an innovative integrated process of simultaneous desulfurization and denitrification (SDD) for high strength wastewater. In the reactor, heterotrophic bacteria (including sulfate reducing bacterium and denitrifying bacteria) and autotrophic bacteria (including Thiobacillus denitrificans) cooperated together by incubating and enriching functional bacteria on different carriers in the anaerobic activated sludge. Synthetic wastewater with high concentrations of sulfate and nitrate was employed. The experimental results showed that the removal efficiency of sulfate and nitrate was above 85%, elemental sulfur was observed while nitrate was absent in effluent. The balance of sulfur, nitrogen and electron was discussed respectively, which indicated that the integrated SDD process could be actualized. These results might provide a guidance to further investigate the key factors affecting the integrated SDD process and to improve the efficiency of desulfurization and denitrification in wastewater treatment.