Investigation of organic nitrogen and carbon removal in the aerobic digestion of various sludges

Abstract

Nitrification and carbon removal are investigated in aerobic batch digestion of various sludges. The experiments are carried out with activated sludge (Test 1) and with a mixture of activated and primary settling sludge (Test 2). The nitrification rate was monitored, measuring the NO 2 - concentration. At the 3rd day of the digestion 40.7 mg NO2-N /l and 3.89 mg NO2-N /l were found in Tests 1 and 2 respectively. In a digestion process, the degradation of biomass indicates the beginning of the endogenous phase. Our measure for biomass content of the sludge was protein analysis. In Test 1, the first day values of 50.93 mg TOC /g dry matter /day and 138.53 mg protein-C / g dry matter /day for specific TOC and protein-C removal rates showed, that the digestion process began in the endogenous phase. For Test 2, since the endogenous phase began after removal of raw organic matter in primary settling sludge, specific TOC and protein-C removal rates were observed to be 60.12 mg TOC /g dry matter /day and 26.72 mg protein-C / g dry matter /day, respectively.