Enhanced physicochemical-biological sewage treatment process in cold regions

Abstract

Biological treatment processes give relatively poor pollutant removal efficiencies in cold regions because microbial activity is inhibited at low temperatures. We developed an enhanced physicochemical-biological wastewater treatment process that involves micro-membrane filtration, anaerobic biofilter, and aerobic biofilter to improve the pollutant removal efficiencies that can be achieved under cold conditions. Full-scale experiments using the process were carried out in the northeast of China, at outdoor temperatures of around −30 °C. The average removal efficiencies achieved for chemical oxygen demand, total phosphorus, ammonia nitrogen, and suspended solids were 89.8, 92.9, 94.3, and 95.8%, respectively, using a polyaluminium chloride dosage of 50 mg L−1. We concluded that the process is effective to treat sewage in cold regions.