The application of aged refuse in nitrification biofilter: Process performance and characterization

High adsorption capacity, good biocompatibility and low cost are highly demanded for biofilter used in ammonium-rich wastewater treatment. In this study, we used SEM, BET, XRD and 16S rRNA to document the evidence for good performance in adsorption and biodegradation in aged refuse. Parallel experiment between raw and inert refuse showed ammonium adsorption occurred at the initial week, with the highest ammonium removal efficiency of 90.36%, but saturated during the subsequent long-term operation. Meanwhile, over 6months' operation of an aged refuse biofilter was conducted to confirm that nitrification was the main pathway of ammonium conversion. The maximum nitrogen loading rate could reach up to as high as 1.28kg/m³/d, with ammonium removal efficiency at 99%. Further, high nitrifier biodiversity were detected with 'Nitrosomonas' and 'Nitrospira' in domination in the refuse. However, Nitrospira would outcompete Nitrosomonas under the oxygen limiting condition and resulted in the failure of partial nitrification. The physicochemical and biological analysis show that biodegradation is the main ammonium conversion pathway, which is the critical finding of this work. This investigation would help to accelerate the application of the aged refuse process in ammonium-rich wastewater treatment.