WER Article Reviews Use of Nitritation-Annamox Process

Researchers have reviewed the challenges of using the nitritation-anammox process (NAP) for biological nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment. The open-access article describing their findings appears in the July issue of Water Environment Research (WER).

When compared with conventional biological nitrogen removal methods in sidestream settings, NAP has the potential to reduce oxygen requirements for wastewater treatment by about 60%; organic carbon consumption by 100%; and sludge production by about 90%. But scaling the process from sidestream to mainstream applications requires more research. The article also explores ideal influent characteristics, reactor configurations, and operational strategies for optimal use of NAP in mainstream treatment.

“In their review of mainstream nitritation/anammox wastewater treatment, Li et al. discuss the current status and major challenges facing this novel treatment strategy,” said WER Editor-in-Chief Tim Ellis. “In an effort to become more energy efficient through the reduction of aeration requirements, nitritation/anammox offers significant promise as well as substantial obstacles.”

Other papers published in this issue include

• “CCl₄-Enhanced Ultrasonic Irradiation for Ciprofloxacin Degradation and Antibiotic Activity,”
• “Comparison of Microbial Removal Between Slow Dead-End Versus Tangential Sand Filtration,”
• “Reduction of Turbidity and Chromium Content of Tannery Wastewater by Electrocoagulation Process,”
• “Acute Impact of Chlortetracycline on Nitrifying and Denitrifying Processes,”
• “Oxygen Transfer in Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor and Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge Processes,”
• “Free Chlorine Disinfection of Full-Scale MBR Effluent to Achieve 5-Log Virus Inactivation,”
• “CO₂ Bubbling to Improve Algal Growth, Nutrient Removal, and Membrane Performance in an Algal Membrane Bioreactor,” and
• “Assessing the Effects of RAS Fermentation on EBPR Performance and Associated Microbial Ecology.”