Nitrogen Removal from Milking Center Wastewater via Simultaneous Nitrification and Denitrification Using a Biofilm Filtration Reactor

Milking center wastewater (MCW) has a relatively low ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C/N ratio), which should be separately managed from livestock manure due to the negative impacts of manure nutrients and harmful effects on down-stream in the livestock manure process with respect to the microbial growth. Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) is linked to inhibition of the second nitrification and reduces around 40% of the carbonaceous energy available for denitrification. Thus, this study was conducted to find the optimal operational conditions for the treatment of MCW using an attached-growth biofilm reactor; i.e., nitrogen loading rate (NLR) of 0.14, 0.28, 0.43, and $0.58kg\;m^{-3}\;d^{-1}$ and aeration rate of 0.06, 0.12, and $0.24\;m^3\;h^{-1}$ were evaluated and the comparison of air-diffuser position between one-third and bottom of the reactor was conducted. Four sand packed-bed reactors with the effective volume of 2.5 L were prepared and initially an air-diffuser was placed at one third from the bottom of the reactor. After the adaptation period of 2 weeks, SND was observed at all four reactors and the optimal NLR of $0.45kg\;m^{-3}\;d^{-1}$ was found as a threshold value to obtain higher nitrogen removal efficiency. Dissolved oxygen (DO) as one of key operational conditions was measured during the experiment and the reactor with an aeration rate of $0.12\;m^3\;h^{-1}$ showed the best performance of $NH_4-N$ removal and the higher total nitrogen removal efficiency through SND with appropriate DO level of ${\sim}0.5\;mg\;DO\;L^{-1}$. The air-diffuser position at one third from the bottom of the reactor resulted in better nitrogen removal than at the bottom position. Consequently, nitrogen in MCW with a low C/N ratio of 2.15 was successfully removed without the addition of external carbon sources.