Suppression of nitrite oxidizing bacteria by hydrogen peroxide for energy reduction in municipal wastewater treatment

This paper investigated the application of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for achieving partial nitrification in mainstream municipal wastewater treatment process. The investigation was carried out in both bench-scale and pilot-scale sequencing batch reactor systems using primary effluent as feed from municipal wastewater treatment plant. H2O2 played a dual role of: (1) inhibitor for nitrifying microorganisms, and (2) supplemental oxygen source. Bench scale studies were carried out at various doses of initial hydrogen peroxide concentrations (10,25,50,100 mg/L). It was found that at a concentration of 50 mg/L and above ammonia removal reduced by more than 80% implying significant impact on both ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). After an acclimatization period of 18 days at a dose of 50 mg/L H2O2, complete nitrification was observed with about 30% nitrite accumulation in the effluent which showed NOBs were impacted more significantly than AOBs. It was also observed from the long-term pilot-scale study that the inhibitory impact on NOBs is almost double the impact of on AOBs which facilitated partial nitrification resulting a nitrite accumulation ratio up to 60% in the effluent at 2 mg/L DO and 15 days SRT.Peroxide dosing resulted in an energy savings of 12–15% compared to a control reactor. It was also shown that by reducing the DO from 2 to 1 mg/L, additional power saving of 15% is achievable. Therefore, the proposed approach is an efficient method for aeration energy savings and can be easily implemented in existing wastewater treatment plants.