Abstract—A hybrid model of activated sludge reactor has been developed in laboratory scale to explore the feasibility of carbon oxidation along with nitrogen removal through nitrification and denitification in the same reactor. The reactor was operated initially under suspended growth only and then hybrid system containing 20 g/L of tyre tube beads. The reactor was operated continuously with the high strength composite synthetic wastewater containing COD and NH4 +-N in the range of (1000 – 3500) mg/L and (500 – 1750) mg/L respectively that follows COD : NH4 +-N equals to 2 : 1. About 80% removal of COD was achieved at a HRT of 8 hrs. even under purely suspended growth condition. At least 12 hrs. HRT was needed to achieve more than 90% NH4 +-N removal for an influent NH4 +-N of 1000 mg/L or more. Nitrite and nitrate formation was promoted with the addition of attached biomass by means of bio-carriers. The maximum extent of nitrite and nitrate formation was about 43.9% and 35.3% of influent NH4 +-N respectively.

Index Terms—ammonia nitrogen removal, COD removal, hybrid bioreactor, shaft-type.

Debabrata Mazumder is with the Civil Engineering Department, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah – 711 103, West Bengal, India; Phone: 0091-033-2668-4561 (Extn. 654); Fax: 0091-033-2668-4564; e-mail: debabrata@ civil.becs.ac.in).

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Cite: Debabrata Mazumder, "Simultaneous COD and Ammonium Nitrogen Removal from a High-strength Wastewater in a Shaft-type Aerobic Hybrid Bioreactor," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 327-332, 2010.