Influence of packing media on nitrogen removal in a subsurface infiltration system

Influence of packing media on nitrogen removal in a subsurface infiltration system was studied. System A was filled with loamy soil and system B was filled with mixed soil of 75% red clay with 25% cinder. Both systems were fed with sewage at the same hydraulic loading of 2 cm/d at continuous operation mode. The same excellent removal performances of COD and T-P could be achieved in both infiltration systems with removal rates about 85% and 98%, respectively. In system A, NH4+ -N removal rate was as high as 96.5% and T-N removal rate was relatively much lower as 55.7%. And in system B, NH4+ -N removal rate was as low as 75.4% and T-N removal rate was relatively much higher as 75.5% . The difference was attributed to different soil oxidation-reduction condition that was greatly influenced by soil texture in subsurface infiltration system. Loamy soil led to oxidative condition that was favorable to nitrification and disadvantageous to denitrification. The results were just adverse to the system filled with clay. Intermittent operation was adopted to improve nitrogen removal in system B. NH4+ -N removal rate could be increased to about 95% and T-N removal rate could be increased to about 90% at intermittent operation mode in system B. Analysis of nitrogen removal mechanisms indicated that nitrification-denitrification was the primary nitrogen removal path in subsurface infiltration system and crop uptake was another important nitrogen removal way. It was the key to improve the total N removal performance that a suitable packing soil was available to present favorable oxidation-reduction condition for simultaneous nitrification and denitrification.