Advanced treatment of sewage by pre-coagulation and biofilm process

Abstract

Treatment performance and operational parameters of a pre-coagulation and biofilm process were experimentally discussed with the pilot-scale plant treating actual municipal sewage. Perfect nitrification was accomplished within total hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4 h at 20% volumetric added ratio of attached-growth media of biofilm in the aerobic tanks under temperature conditions as low as 17°C. Treatment efficiencies in organic matter, T–N and T–P were high and stable with the total HRT of 8 h in the biological reactor. Concentrations of T–N and T–P in effluent were kept about 2 mgN/L and under 1 mgP/L, respectively. Attached growth bacterial mass and the potential activity of nitrification and denitrification in each tank in cold season were high enough to accomplish excellent treatment performance. Then the process was proved to be applicable to municipal sewage treatment for removal of nitrogen and phosphorus as well as organic matter.