Strategies to improve ammonia removal from ammonia-rich sludge liquor in Canada

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Ammonium-rich sludge liquor generated during municipal sludge dewatering processes needs to be managed before disposal. Nitritation/denitritation or nitritation-anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) processes are promising technologies for high ammonia sludge liquor removal with low energy cost, but usually work at mesophilic temperatures (25-40 °C), which limits reactor performance in Canadian cold weather conditions.The proposed study will employ bench scale and pilot scale IFAS bioreactors to evaluate an ammonia reduction strategy for treatment of ammonia-rich sludge liquor that is suitable under low temperatures. Three bench scale processes, including two reactor nitritation/denitritation, two reactor nitritation/anammox, and one reactor nitritation/anammox, will be evaluated and optimized under controlled conditions to influence microbial population dynamics and functionality and to increase ammonia removal efficiency. A stable and efficient pilot scale process for ammonia-rich sludge liquor treatment will be developed to simulate a full scale wastewater treatment process. To our knowledge, this is the first work that explores the development of an efficient, low cost ammonia removal treatment for ammonia-rich sludge liquor under Canadian cold weather conditions. Such treatment will provide significant economic and environmental benefits to Canada. The highly qualified personnel participating in this CRD Program will obtain academic and industrial knowledge and experience that will strengthen Alberta's and Canada's capacities in wastewater treatment management.