Innovative technology of municipal wastewater treatment for rapid sludge sedimentation and enhancing pollutants removal with nano-material

• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.124675
• Publication Date: 2021-01-09T08:49:57Z
• Authors: Wenyan He; Qibin Wang; Yue Zhu; Kaijun Wang; Jianhua Mao; Xiaofei Xue; Yanwei Shi
• Keywords: Sedimentation; Hydraulic retention time

This study aims to develop a novel technology for actual municipal wastewater treatment to achieve rapid sludge sedimentation and high pollutants removal efficiency. The SBRs were modified and operated with periodic addition of 20 μL·L-1 nanofloc®. Results revealed that NH4+-N and chemical oxygen demand (COD) was efficiently removed in both laboratory- and pilot-scale SBRs, and the average removal efficiency of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) was as high as 72.43 ± 2.66% and 98.63 ± 0.74%, respectively, with hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 8 h. Besides, the sludge volume index at 30 min (SVI30) was only 40.06 ± 1.99 mL·g-1, comparable with aerobic granular sludge (AGS). This novel technology could be proposed as a competitive method to upgrade, reconstruct and delay the expansion of municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) due to its rapid sludge sedimentation and efficient pollutants removal with low HRT.