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Published on: May 2, 2025
Optimizing external carbon source addition in domestics wastewater treatment based on online sensoring data and a
Qibin Wang1, Qiuwen Chen2, Jing Chen3
1State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China E-mail: qwchen@nhri.cn; State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Abstract:
The removal of total nitrogen in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is often unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons. One possible measure to improve nitrogen removal is the addition of external carbon. However, the amount of carbon addition is directly related to WWTP operation costs, highlighting the importance of accurately determining the amount of external carbon required. The objective of this study was to obtain a low nitrate concentration in the anoxic zone of WWTPs efficiently and economically by optimizing the external carbon source dosage. Experiments were conducted using a pilot-scale pre-denitrification reactor at a Nanjing WWTP in China. External carbon source addition based on online monitoring of influent wastewater quality and a developed nitrification-denitrification numerical model was investigated. Results showed that carbon addition was reduced by 47.7% and aeration costs were reduced by 8.0% compared with those using a fixed-dose addition mode in the pilot reactor. The obtained technology was applied to the full-scale Jiangxinzhou WWTP in Nanjing with promising results.
