Effect of Hydraulic Retention Time on Nitrification in an AirLift Biological Reactor

The occurrence of nitrogenous compounds in industrial effluents at concentration levels above legal limits, is a well-known and serious pollution problem for the receiving body. The biological process for the removal of these substances, commonly referred to as ammoniacal nitrogen, is known as nitrification. Bacteria involved are mainly of the genuses Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter. The aim of the present work was to study the effect of the hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the efficiency of ammonia removal from a petroleum refinery effluent using activated carbon particles as a biofilm support in an airlift bioreactor. The experiments were carried out using HRTs, equal to six, eight and ten hours. The results show that HRT equal to 8 and 10 hours were enough to reduce ammoniacal nitrogen concentration to levels below permited legal limits (5mg/L NH3-N). The reactor nitrifying performance was maximized at 85% removal of ammoniacal nitrogen, for a HRT equal to 10 hours