Case study on the implementation of deammonification for the process water treatment of Munich WWTPs

The two-staged WWTP 'Gut Grosslappen' has a capacity of 2 mio. PE. It comprises a pre-denitrification in the first stage using recirculation from the nitrifying second stage. A residual post-denitrification in a downstream sand filter is required in order to achieve the effluent standards. Presently the process water from sludge digestion is treated separately by nitrification/denitrification. Due to necessary reconstruction of the biological stages, the process water treatment was included in the future overall process concept of the WWTP. A case study was conducted comparing the processes nitritation/denitrititation and deammonification with nitrification/denitrification including their effect on the operational costs of the planned main flow treatment. Besides the different operating costs the investment costs required for the process water treatment played a significant role. Six cases for the process water treatment were compared. As a result, in Munich deammonification can only be recommended for long-term future developments, due to the high investment costs, compared with the nitritation/denitritation alternative realizable in existing tanks. The savings concerning aeration, sludge disposal and chemicals were not sufficient to compensate for the additional investment costs. Due to the specific circumstances in Munich, for the time being the use of existing tanks for nitritation/denitritation proved to be most economical.