Performance Investigation of Woodchip Bioreactor for Nitrate Removal from Wastewater

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Student, MSc Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor. Department of Water Engineering Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

3 Associate Professor. Department of Soil Science Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

4 Associate Professor. Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

Abstract

Wood chip bioreactors are one of the low-cost methods to remove nitrate from effluents, including wastewater effluents. This research was conducted in Ardabil plain and in the research farm of Mohaghegh Ardabil University during the autumn of 2021. Two types bioreactors; one including wood chip and the other including a mixture of wood chip and iron chip, each with four replications  were implemented in a factorial design. Three levels of nitrate concentration (50, 150, and 300 mg.l-1) were passed through the reactors and their effluents were measured after 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours retention time in the bioreactor. The results showed that the performance of reactors with wood chip core (54.7% removal) was better than the wood and iron chip (45.9% removal). Also, the results demonstrated that the removal percentage was in descending order at concentrations of 150, 300, and 50 mg.l-1, with the average values of 54.6, 50.3, and 45.5%, respectively. The results of variance analysis showed that the retention time have a significant effect on the amount of nitrate removal by reactors so that the minimum and the maximum removal (4.3% and 89.3%) were obtained from 3-hours and 96-houres retention time, respectively. In general, it can be concluded that under the conditions of this research, bioreactors with wood chip have acceptable performance in nitrate removal. Also, it was found for the suggested drainage coefficient in Iran (2 mm.day-1) and with a retention time of 96 hours, less than 2% of the land area is needed for bioreactor construction.

Keywords


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