Improvement of Nitrogen Removal in Lab Scale Waste Stabilization Ponds and it's Applications Towards Full Scale Ponds

Global population is expected to increase significantly stretching the existing sanitation facilities to its limits. It is therefore imperative that new and economical treatment methods are developed if the people are to remain healthy. The most common processes involve utilizing natural systems. However, the main disadvantage of engaging natural systems for wastewater treatment (ponds, wetlands) is the large area requirement. Main cause for this is that the pond environment is minimally engineered. An approach to improve the overall Ammonia and Nitrogen removal rates in Waste Stabilization Pond (WSP) systems is by providing bio-film attachment surfaces. Initial tests on continuous flow experiments conducted on 8cm deep lab scale facultative type WSP showed that the algal/bacterial bio-film was capable of achieving 56% to 65% NH4+-N removal and 30% to 33.5% of COD removal. Batch incubations carried out with the bio-film-coated plates under fully aerobic/ lighted conditions, an average Ammonia removal rate of 11.6ugNH4+-N/cm²/h was achieved.