Strategies to improve the efficiency of tertiary nitrifying trickling filters

摘要

The long term effects of the conditions for a biofilm reactor are governed by slow microbial processes, such as the growth and decay of the bacteria. Simulations of a trickling filter model based on a multi species dynamic biofilm model and data from an experiment, where an NTF had been alternatingly fed unnitrified and completely nitrified wastewater, agree fairly well. Two different operating strategies of NTFs are studied by simulation: periodically inversing the order of two NTFs in series and varying the flow th rough NTFs operating in parallel. The simulations indicate that both strategies have a potential of increasing the nitrifying capacity of filters operating at low ammonium load, provided the influent concentrations of organic matter are low. However, to what extent the capacity is increased depends on the specific death rate of the nitrifiers, which needs to be further studied. [References: 12]