Denitrification of high nitrate wastewater in a cloth strip bioreactor with immobilized sludge

Denitrification of synthetic high nitrate wastewater containing 40,000 ppm NO(3) (9,032 ppm NO(3)-N) was achieved using immobilized activated sludge in a column reactor. Active anoxic sludge adsorbed onto Terry cloth was used in the denitrification of high nitrate wastewater. The operational stability of the immobilized sludge system was studied both in a batch reactor and in a continuous reactor. The immobilized sludge showed complete degradation of different concentrations of NO(3)-N (1,129, 1,693, 3,387, 6,774, and 9,032 ppm) in a batch process. The reactors were successfully run for 90 days without any loss in activity. The immobilized cell process has yielded promising results in attaining high denitrifying efficiency.