Water Research 36 (2002) 10671075

Aerobic moving bed biolm reactor treating thermomechanical

pulping whitewater under thermophilic conditions
Sigrun J. Jahrena,*, Jukka A. Rintalab, Hallvard degaarda
a

Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology,
N-7034 Trondheim, Norway
b
Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyvaskyl
a,
a,
.
. P.O. Box 35, FIN-40351 Jyvaskyl
.
. Finland
Received 20 April 1999; received in revised form 17 April 2001; accepted 15 June 2001

Abstract
The continuously operated laboratory scale Kaldnes moving bed biolm reactor (MBBR) was used for thermophilic
(551C) aerobic treatment of TMP whitewater. In the MBBR, the biomass is grown on carrier elements that move along
with the water in the reactor. Inoculation with mesophilic activated sludge gave 6065% SCOD removal from the rst
day onwards. During the 107 days of experiment, the 6065% SCOD removals were achieved at organic loading rates
of 2.53.5 kg SCOD m
3 d
1, the highest loading rates applied during the run and HRT of 1322 h. Carbohydrates,
which contributed to 5060% of the inuent SCOD, were removed by 9095%, while less than 15% of the lignin-like
material (3035% of SCODin) was removed. The sludge yield was 0.23 g VSS g SCOD
1
removed. The results show that
the aerobic biolm process can be successfully operated under thermophilic conditions. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.
All rights reserved.
Keywords: Aerobic; Biolm; Moving bed biolm reactor; Thermophilic; Thermomechanical pulping whitewater

1. Introduction
Thermomechanical pulp (TMP) is produced by
rening wood chips at temperatures above 1001C. The
yield of the TMP process is 9397% based on dry wood
[1] implying that 3070 kg ton
1 is lost to the water. The
organic compounds in TMP whitewater consist of lignin
(40%), carbohydrates (40%) and extractives (20%) [2].
Thermomechanical pulping whitewater is warm, normally with temperatures between 501C and 801C, with a
COD of 10005600 mg L
1 [3].
Process water treatment at high temperature would
omit cooling of the process water and allow the treated
water to be reused in the processes at the mill without
heating. Thus, investments in cooling facilities such as
cooling towers may be minimised or even avoided.
Higher maintenance energy requirements and higher
*Corresponding author. Present address: 3MINUTES Media
AS, Nygaard, Rute 784, 2050 Jessheim, Norway.
E-mail address: sjahren@3minutesmedia.com (S.J. Jahren).

microbial decay coecients for thermophiles indicate

that the amount of excess sludge will be smaller
for thermophilic than for mesophilic treatment processes
[46].
Thermophilic aerobic treatment of pulp and paper
mill wastewaters at 50551C has been found to be
comparable with mesophilic treatment in terms of BOD
and COD removal in laboratory scale experiments at
loading rates up to 8.4 kg COD m
3 d
1 [710]. Aerobic
post-treatment has been successfully applied in laboratory-scale for anaerobically pre-treated TMP whitewater
at thermophilic conditions (551C) [11], while previous
thermophilic aerobic studies on recirculated newsprint
with suspended growth systems in laboratory-scale gave
poor organic removal eciencies [12]. Sludge from the
treatment process operated at 50531C showed better
settling characteristics compared to lower temperatures
[8,10]. This could be explained by decreased liquid
viscosity at high temperatures [4]. Other plants, however, experienced lower settling rates and lower BOD
removal rates at 41501C than at 22351C [13,14]. To

0043-1354/02/$ -see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 4 3 - 1 3 5 4 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 3 1 1 - 6

1068

S.J. Jahren et al. / Water Research 36 (2002) 10671075

our knowledge, aerobic thermophilic treatment is not

applied in full scale for pulp and paper mill wastewaters,
while the applications for other industrial wastewaters
are rare.
Saturation values for oxygen in water decrease when
the temperature increases (6.9 mg L
1 at 351C versus
4.5 mg L
1 at 551C). The diusivity coecient for
oxygen, however, is signicantly higher at elevated
temperatures (2.8e5 cm2 s
1 at 351C versus 4.3e
5 cm2 s
1 at 551C; calculated with WilkeChang equation). The rate of oxygen transfer at high temperatures
should therefore be expected to be as good as, or better
than, that at mesophilic conditions.
Biolm treatment plants are more compact than
activated sludge plants and the treatment eciencies
are less dependent on the sludge separation characteristics. The Kaldnes moving bed biolm reactor (MBBR)
is a completely mixed continuously operated biolm
reactor where the biomass is grown on small carrier
elements that move along with the water in the reactor
[15,16]. No sludge recycling is necessary for keeping the
biomass per unit volume at a high level. The Kaldnes
polyethylene carrier elements are shaped like small
cylinders with a cross inside and longitudinal ns on
the outside. The bulk carrier volume relative to reactor
volume is 4070%. The carriers have a potential growth
area for a biolm of about 490 m2 m
3 at 70% lling,
while the ecient growth area is calculated to be about
350 m2 m
3 [16]. The movement in the reactor is caused
by aeration in an aerobic reactor and by a mechanical
mixer in an anaerobic or anoxic reactor. The MBBR has
been successfully applied under aerobic and anoxic
conditions for full-scale treatment of municipal and
industrial wastewaters [15,16]. Experiments using the
MBBR for the treatment of concentrated wastewaters
under thermophilic anaerobic conditions have been
successful as well [17].

The objective of this study was to evaluate in

laboratory-scale the feasibility of the Kaldnes aerobic
MBBR for the treatment of TMP whitewater under
thermophilic conditions.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. TMP whitewater
The TMP whitewater was obtained from a Finnish
pulp and paper mill using spruce as the raw material.
Four batches of whitewater with characteristics as
shown in Table 1 were obtained during the period.
The whitewater had temperatures of 70801C at the mill.
Within 35 h of collecting the whitewater from the mill it
was cooled down to 41C until it was used for feed
preparation. Before using it as feed, nitrogen (10 mg L
1
N as NH4Cl) and phosphorus (2 mg L
1 P as KH2PO4)
were added to the whitewater for nutrition. Sodium
bicarbonate (11.5 g L
1) was added to provide buer
capacity and pH was adjusted to 7.0 by adding HCl.
New feed was prepared 27 times a week. The feed was
stored at 41C.
2.2. Reactor
A laboratory scale plexiglas reactor with a total liquid
volume of 8.55 L was used in the study. The reactor was
lled with 58% Kaldnes carrier elements (Fig. 1, density
0.95 g cm
3, diameter 10 mm and height 7 mm) [15,16],
occupying 11% of the reactors liquid volume. On day
92, the reactor liquid volume was reduced to 3.55 L (in
preparation for other experiments [18]), removing
Kaldnes carriers to maintain the same %-wise lling.
The reactor was kept in a temperature-controlled
waterbath at 551C. The feed was heated in the inlet

Table 1
Characteristics of the TMP whitewater from the mill
Introduced (experimental day)

22

49

71

Average (Std.dev.)

pH
TS (%)
VS (%)
SS (mg L
1)
VSS (mg L
1)
TCOD (mg L
1)
SCOD (mg L
1)
TOC (mg L
1)
TBOD7 (mg L
1)
SBOD7 (mg L
1)
Ntot (mg L
1)
Ptot (mg L
1)

4.5
0.25
0.18
28
24
2500
2200
850
1300
800
9.7
1.6

4.9
0.21
0.18
99
86
2800
2400
890
1200
1200
9.8
1.8

4.8
0.22
0.16
158
144
2100
2000
680
1000
990
11
1.5

4.6
0.22
0.16
136
120
2500
2100
680
1000
980
8.4
1.8

4.7 (0.2)
0.23 (0.02)
0.17 (0.01)
105 (57)
94 (52)
2475 (287)
2175 (171)
775 (111)
1125 (150)
993 (164)
9.7 (1.1)
1.7 (0.2)

S.J. Jahren et al. / Water Research 36 (2002) 10671075

tube in the waterbath before entering the reactor.

Mixing and aeration were provided by pressurised air
through ceramic aerators in the bottom of the reactor.
The reactor was covered in order to minimise stripping
and evaporation. Oxygen concentration in the reactor
was kept at 23 mg O2 L
1. The experimental set-up is
shown in Fig. 2.
2.3. Inoculum
The reactor was inoculated with activated sludge (36 g
VSS) from a mesophilic full-scale plant treating pulp

1069

and paper mill wastewater. The VSS/SS ratio of the

inoculum was 0.71.
2.4. Batch experiments
The activity of the reactor sludge (day 47 of the
reactor run, at a loading rate of 2.5 kg COD m
3 d
1)
and the aerobic degradability of TMP whitewater
were studied in batch experiments. The batches
were composed of 0.3 L of reactor content and 0.7 L
of feed diluted to dierent concentrations. The
batches were placed in a waterbath at 551C.
Aeration was provided by aquarium aerators. The
initial pH was 7.0 and it was adjusted to 7.07.3
with HCl at each sampling occasion as the pH
increased up to 8.08.2 during the incubation.
Sample volumes were around 10 mL each time. The
activities were calculated as the dierence between
the SCOD measured at a given time and the initial
SCOD, divided by the incubation time and the
volume of the batch.
Stripping and evaporation were studied in aerobic
batch experiments. The glasses containing 1 L of
reactor feed were covered by aluminium foil and kept
under aeration in a waterbath at 551C. Two batches of
aerobic reactor feed, one made from unltered, and one
from ltered TMP whitewater, were tested in the
experiment.
2.5. Analyses

Fig. 1. The Kaldnes moving bed biolm carrier.

Fig. 2. Experimental set-up.

The pH measurements (Orion pH-electrode) were

conducted immediately after sampling, while dissolved
oxygen (YSI O2-electrode) was measured from the
reactor. Unltered and ltered (GF/A) chemical
oxygen demand (TCOD and SCOD) and biochemical
oxygen demand (TBOD7 and SBOD7), total phosphorus (Ptot), total nitrogen (Ntot), total solids (TS),
volatile solids (VS), suspended solids (SS) and volatile
suspended solids (VSS) were determined according
to Standard Methods [19]. Attached biomass was
removed mechanically by scraping it o the
Kaldnes carriers before SS and VSS analyses. Total
organic carbon (TOC) was analysed with a Shimadzu
TOC-5000 Total Organic Carbon analyser as described
previously [20]. The lignin content was determined
by ultraviolet absorbance at 280 nm [11]. It should be
noted that even other components, like aromatic
extractives, absorb light at 280 nm. By using Beers
Law with an absortivity coecient of 22.3 L g
1 cm
1
[21] and a chemical oxygen demand factor of 1.9 mg O2
mg
1 of lignin, the COD of lignin-like substances could
be estimated. Carbohydrates were determined by the
colorimetric method described by Dubois et al. [22], with
glucose as standard.

1070

S.J. Jahren et al. / Water Research 36 (2002) 10671075

3. Results
3.1. Reactor study
The hydraulic retention time (HRT) was gradually
decreased from an initial HRT of around 30 h to an
HRT of around 14 h after 70 days of operation (Fig. 3).
Initially, the loading rates were 1.52 kg COD m
3 d
1,
increasing gradually to a maximum of 3.8 kg
SCOD m
3 d
1 after 70 days of operation (Fig. 3). The
SCOD was removed by 6065% throughout the whole
experiment (Fig. 4) giving degradation rates of 1.5
2.4 kg SCOD m
3 d
1 (Fig. 3). The pH in the reactor
was 8.08.5.

Fig. 3. HRT (a), loading rates and removal rates (b) in the
thermophilic aerobic MBBR.

Fig. 4. Inuent and euent SCOD and TCOD (a) and %

SCOD removals (b) in the thermophilic aerobic MBBR.

The average process performance during days 49107

is presented in Fig. 5 and Table 2. The inuent SCOD
consisted of 58% carbohydrates and 33% lignin-like
material, while 9% was non-identied. The average
SCOD removal during the period was 62%. The
carbohydrates were reduced by 8595%. The removal
of lignin-like material decreased from 15% at days 63
65 to less than 5% at days 97107 (data not shown). The
euent SCOD was composed of 12% carbohydrates,
78% lignin-like material, and a non-identied SCOD
of 10%.
The COD : N : P ratio in the feed (after N and P
addition) was 100 : 2.2 : 0.5 for unltered as well as
ltered inuents. The nutrient consumption in the
thermophilic aerobic process was 18.5 mg Nsol g

1
SCOD
1
removed and 2.2 mg Psol g SCODremoved. About
70% of the inuent nitrogen and 4045% of the inuent
phosphorus came out with the euent (Table 2). The
SCOD/SBOD ratio was 2.0 for the inuent and 3.1 for
the euent. Removal of SBOD was 7476%.
The euent VSS was 220600 mg L
1 (Table 2). The
amount of attached biomass on the carriers increased
gradually until it reached a steady state of 12001600 mg
VSS L
1 after 78106 days of operation. Then the total
amount of biomass in the reactor was 14001900 mg
VSS L
1, out of which 8085% was found as attached
growth (Fig. 6). The average VSS/SS ratios were 0.78 in
the euent and 0.91 in the attached biomass.
The average sludge yield over the 107 days of reactor
operation, based on suspended biomass determinations on the euent, was found to be 0.19 g VSS g

1
SCOD
1
removed (0.25 g SS g SCODremoved). Between days
78 and 86 the sludge growth was determined. The yields
of suspended biomass were 20% and 35% higher for this
period than for the whole 107 days run, based on SS and
VSS, respectively (Table 3).

Fig. 5. The average (standard deviation shown as error bars,

N 9232) measured TCOD and SCOD and the identied
SCOD calculated from the analysis of specic compound
groups in the thermophilic aerobic MBBR during days 49107.

1071

S.J. Jahren et al. / Water Research 36 (2002) 10671075

Table 2
Characteristics of the thermophilic aerobic Kaldnes moving bed biolm reactor performance during days 49107
Operational parameters N 29245

Average

1 a

Flow (L d )
HRT (h)
Loading rate (kg SCOD m
3 d
1)
Removal rate (kg SCOD m
3 d
1)
SCOD reduction (%)

Std.dev.

11.5
17.9
2.7
1.7
61.6

Range

1.7
2.5
0.4
0.3
4.1

7.815.6
13.226.2
1.83.8
1.22.3
5271

Process water characteristics

Inuent

1

TCOD (mg L )
SCOD (mg L
1)
TBOD7 (mg L
1)
SBOD7 (mg L
1)
Ptot (mg L
1)b
Psol (mg L
1)b
Ntot (mg L
1)b
Nsol (mg L
1)b
SS (mg L
1)
VSS (mg L
1)
a
b

Euent

Average

Std.dev.

Range

Average

Std.dev.

Range

9
32
3
3
5
2
5
2
13
13

2222
2022
1067
1007
11.5
10.6
48
44
110
93

172
94
58
86
1.0
0.1
7
1
52
48

20002600
18002200
10001100
9301100
10.512.8
10.510.6
4057
4345
45180
35160

17
32
3
3
5
2
5
2
35
35

1240
772
380
247
12.0
7.5
47
19
588
471

258
87
36
12
0.5
0.7
9
2
296
238

9401900
570930
350420
240260
11.112.4
7.08.0
3962
1720
3501500
2901200

Before reactor volume reduction.

After nutrients addition.

3.2. Batch experiments

Fig. 6. Biomass development in the thermophilic aerobic

MBBR.

The sludge could be observed to settle well over a

period of some hours, giving a clear water layer above
the sludge bed. Short time measurements (30 min),
however, gave varying indications of separability, with
sludge volume index (SVI) in the range of 50
90 mL g SS
1(data not shown).

The maximum specic activity for the reactor

biomass was determined in batch tests with whitewater diluted to dierent concentrations (Fig. 7a).
The degradation rate was 15.9 g SCOD g VSS
1 d
1
as calculated for the rst hour of incubation and
8.6 g SCOD g VSS
1 d
1 during 5 h of incubation,
based on an approximation of the biomass on the
carriers (Fig. 7b).
Batch experiments (day 47, initial SCOD of whitewater 2300 mg L
1) that were run for 42 h achieved a
residual SCOD of around 750 mg L
1 and 7075%
removal of the SCOD in the TMP whitewater when the
inoculum was excluded.
The eects of stripping on the SCOD removal
were also evaluated in the batch experiments. Stripping
at 551C caused less than 5% COD removal for unltered
as well as for ltered samples during 18 h of testing.
Evaporation during the batch experiment was about 5%
of the volume.

4. Discussion
To our knowledge, this study is the rst one to
demonstrate the operation of an aerobic biolm process

1072

S.J. Jahren et al. / Water Research 36 (2002) 10671075

Table 3
Sludge yield in the reactor, days 7886a

Average daily yield based on suspended biomass

a

YSS,SCOD (g SS g SCOD
1
removed)

YVSS,SCOD (g VSS g SCOD
1

removed)

0.30(0.06)

0.23(0.05)

Average and std.dev. (in parenthesis), N 7:

Fig. 8. Removal rates versus loading rates in the thermophilic

aerobic MBBR.

Fig. 7. The eects of initial COD on the activity of the reactor

sludge in batch assays. The initial whitewater concentration was
2300 mg L
1. (a) The COD concentrations in the batches over
time. The percents on the curves refer to the dilution of the
water at start-up. The COD of the biomass (30% of the batch
volume) is subtracted. (b) The specic degradation rates
calculated over 1 and 5 h.

for the treatment of pulp and paper mill wastewater or

process water under thermophilic conditions.
Inoculation of the thermophilic aerobic MBBR with
activated sludge from a mesophilic paper mill waste-

water treatment plant, gave initial COD removals

similar to those obtained after the sludge had been
adapted to the temperature. This suggests that aerobic
thermophilic or thermotolerant microorganisms are
present in mesophilic processes in high quantities. It is
known [23] that thermotolerant as well as facultative
thermophilic bacteria may live at 551C.
The thermophilic aerobic process removed the same
percentage of organic material (COD) as thermophilic
anaerobic treatment of the same water [24], indicating
that all the biodegradable COD that could be removed
under thermophilic conditions was removed in both
cases. In the present study the applied loading rate was
signicantly lower (up to 3.8 kg SCOD m
3 d
1) than
the loading rate to the anaerobic reactor (15 kg
SCOD m
3 d
1). The maximum removal rate of the
aerobic system was, however, not reached within the
loading rates used in this study. This is demonstrated in
Fig. 8. If the maximum loading rate had been reached,
the removal rate would not have increased with
increasing loading rate. In a mesophilic study with the
same process treating integrated newsprint wastewater, a
reduction in HRT from 15 to 4.2 h (with an increase in
the loading rate from 4.1 to 14.4 kg FCOD m
3 d
1)
gave only a minor reduction in treatment eciency

S.J. Jahren et al. / Water Research 36 (2002) 10671075

(ltered COD removal reduced from 79% to 75%) [25].

This indicates that the loading rate in the current
experiment could be further increased without major
loss in treatment eciency.
Between 50% and 75% of the whitewater SCOD was
degraded in the aerobic thermophilic process, with an
average of 62%. Around 25% of the SCOD were
probably not biodegradable. Aerobic mesophilic processes typically remove 5580% of the COD from TMP
whitewater [12,26,27]. In this study, 6065% removal
was achieved. Rintala and Vuoriranta [28] demonstrated
a COD removal of 8085% in a mesophilic activated
sludge process treating the whitewater from the same
mill as in the present study at loading rates of 24 kg
COD m
3 d
1. This dierence in removal eciency may
be explained by dierences in the wastewater composition, or by the dierence in community structures in the
sludge generated under thermophilic and mesophilic
conditions as found by Tripathi and Allen [29] or a
dierence in community structure between activated
sludge and the biomass in the MBBR. There could also
be organic fractions in the water that are less biodegradable at a higher temperature.
The COD of the aerobically treated TMP whitewater
apparently consisted of carbohydrates, lignin and
extractives. Carbohydrates and lignin-like material
contributed to 8090% of the SCOD in the reactor
inuent and to 8595% in the euent (Fig. 5). The rest
of the inuent and euent SCOD probably consisted of
extractives, volatile fatty acids and diethylenetriamine
pentaacetic acid as found in other studies [30]. The
removal of carbohydrates (8595%) was similar to that
found in full-scale mesophilic activated sludge treatment
of TMP euents (93%), while the removal of lignin-like
material was signicantly lower (515 versus 45%) [30].
In anaerobic thermophilic treatment of the same whitewater carbohydrates were removed by 9496% and
lignin-like material by 720% [24].
The reason for the low biomass concentration in the
thermophilic aerobic MBBR (14001700 mg VSS L
1)
could be the low loading rates applied or nutrient
limitation, resulting in low biomass formation. In
another study, thermophilic aerobic Kaldnes MBBRs
treating anaerobically pretreated TMP whitewater gave
biomass concentrations up to 6500 mg VSS L
1 at
loading rates up to 15 kg COD m
3 d
1 [31]. Full-scale
mesophilic Kaldnes MBBRs treating NSSC (neutral
sulphite semi-chemical pulp) wastewater had a biolm
concentration of 7400 mg TS/L with loading rates up to
5055 kg COD m
3 d
1 [32]. Activated sludge plants
treating pulp and paper industry wastewaters generally
operate with a COD : N : P ratio of 100 : 5 : 1 [3]. The
ratio in the feed (100 : 2.2 : 0.5) indicates that there might
have been nitrogen or phosphorous deciency in the
reactor, causing low sludge production and reduced
removal eciencies. However, the euent concentra-

1073

tions of N and P given in Table 2 (7.5 and 19 mg L
1,

respectively) point towards no such deciencies. Poor
immobilisation is not a likely cause for the low biomass
concentration in the reactor. The major part of the
biomass in the thermophilic Kaldnes MBBRs is attached
to the carriers ([17,31], present study).
When the biolm on the carrier is sloughed o, it
leaves the reactor with the euent. This is recognised as
a temporarily increased euent solid and TCOD (Fig. 4)
as was also found in this study. This, however, did not
cause any decrease in the treatment eciency based on
soluble COD values. A separation system for excess
sludge would be needed when constructing a full-scale
plant. Chemical addition has been found to improve
the precipitation of biomass from mesophilic MBBR
treating integrated newsprint mill wastewater. The
amount of chemicals needed for precipitation was a
quarter to a third of that needed without the biological
treatment [25].
The specic degradation rates of the thermophilic
biolm changed with time in the batch tests (Fig. 7).
During the rst 30 min, the degradation rate was high,
probably due to the presence of easily degradable
material in the water. From 30 min to 2 h the degradation rate was low, before the slope of the curve again
increased. This could indicate that hydrolysis was taking
place during the period from 30 min to 2 h, before full
degradation of the hydrolysed material was completed.
The average specic degradation rate decreased with
increasing time period for the measurements (15 h).
A retention time in the aerobic thermophilic reactor
above 14 h gave biomass loading rates of 1.52.6 kg
SCOD kg VSS
1 d
1 and removal rates of 1.11.8 kg
SCOD kg VSS
1 d
1 throughout the experiment. The
specic degradation rates that were found when treating
similar wastewater in suspended biomass process at 20
401C were 0.180.20 kg SCOD kg VSS
1 d
1 [5]. In the
aerobic suspended process treatment of slaughterhouse
euent, COD removal rates were about 10 times higher
under thermophilic (521C and 581C) than under
mesophilic conditions (specic utilisation rates of 19.8
31.1 d
1 versus 0.72.6 d
1; [33]). This suggests that
higher specic removal rates could be obtained in
thermophilic than in mesophilic processes.
The sludge yield in the present study (0.3 g SS g
SCOD
1
removed) was similar to that reported for mesophilic suspended growth systems treating similar wastewater from the same mill [28]. Studies on mesophilic
suspended growth systems treating TMP whitewater
from other mills have given higher (0.41.4 mg VSS mg
COD
1
removed [26]) as well as lower yields (0.1 mg VSS mg
COD
1
removed [5]). A mesophilic Kaldnes MBBR treating
NSSC wastewater gave a sludge production of
0.2 kg TS g COD
1
removed [32], while 0.28 kg TSS kg
BOD
1
removed was produced in a mesophilic xed lm
lter treating ne paper mill euent [27]. Thus, it seems

1074

S.J. Jahren et al. / Water Research 36 (2002) 10671075

that the experimental studies do not show consistently

lower excess sludge production in thermophilic than in
mesophilic aerobic processes. However, there are still
very few well-documented comparable studies on
mesophilic and thermophilic processes, which could
justify a direct comparison.

[7]

[8]

5. Conclusion
[9]

The Kaldnes MBBR is feasible for the treatment of

TMP whitewater under thermophilic aerobic conditions.
Rapid start-up with initial SCOD removals of 6065%
was achieved with mesophilic inoculum. Removal rates
of 1.52.4 kg SCOD m
3 d
1 were obtained at loading
rates of 2.33.8 kg SCOD m
3 d
1. Around 25% of the
whitewater SCOD were not biodegradable. The removal
rates increased linearly with increasing loading rates and
there were no signs that the maximum loading rate was
similar. The thermophilic aerobic Kaldnes moving bed
biolm process gave sludge yields and sludge activities
comparable to those from mesophilic activated sludge
treatment of similar water.

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

Acknowledgements
We thank United Paper Mills Ltd. for providing the
TMP whitewater and sludge samples. This research was
nanced by Kaldnes Miljteknologi AS and the
Research Council of Norway through the FORFOR
programme. The experimental work was carried out at
Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering,
Tampere University of Technology. We thank Professor
Matti Viitasaari for providing laboratory and research
facilities.

References
. om
. E. Wood chemistry, fundamentals and applica[1] Sjostr
tions, 2nd ed. New York: Academic Press, 1993.
[2] J.arvinen R, Vahtila M, Mannstr.om B, Sundholm
J. Reduce environmental load in TMP. Pulp Paper Canada
1980;81(3):T6771.
[3] Rintala J, Puhakka J. Anaerobic treatment in pulp- and
paper-mill waste management: a review. Bioresource Tech
1994;47:118.
[4] Surucu GA, Chian ESK, Engelbrecht RS. Aerobic
thermophilic treatment of high strength wastewaters.
J Water Pollut Control Fed 1976;48:66979.
[5] Johnson RM, Hall ER. The biological treatment of
recirculated whitewater at high temperatures. CCPA
Technical Section Pacic Coast & Western Branches Joint
Spring Conference, Jasper, AB, Session 2A, Paper 1, 1996.
[6] Stover EL, Samuel GJ. High rate thermophilic pretreatment of high strength industrial wastewaters. Proceedings

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

of Purdue Industrial Conference, Purdue University, West

Lafayette, Indiana, 57 May 1997.
Rudolfs W, Amberg HR. White water treatment V.
Aeration with nonocculent growths. Sewage Ind Wastes
1953;25(1):708.
Gehm HW. Activated sludge at high temperatures and
high pH values. In: McCabe BJ, Eckenfelder WW, editors.
Biological treatment of sewage and industrial wastes,
Aerobic oxidation, vol. 1. New York: Reinhold, 1956.
p. 3525.
Rintala JA, Lepisto. R. Thermophilic anaerobicaerobic
and aerobic treatment of kraft bleaching euents. Water
Sci Technol 1993;28(2):116.
Barr TA, Taylor JM, Du SJB. Eect of HRT, SRT and
temperature on the performance of activated sludge
reactors treating bleached kraft mill euent. Water Res
1996;30:799810.
Rintala JA, Lepisto. SS. Anaerobic treatment of thermomechanical pulping whitewater at 35701C. Water Res
1992;26:1297305.
Tardif O, Hall ER. Alternatives for treating recirculated
newsprint whitewater at high temperatures. Water Sci
Technol 1997;35(23):5765.
Carpenter WL, Vamvakias JG, Gellman I. Temperature
relationships in aerobic treatment and disposal of pulp and
paper wastes. J WPCF 1968;40:73340.
Flippin TH, Eckenfelder Jr, WW. Eects of elevated
temperature on the activated sludge process. Proceedings
of the Tappi 1994 International Environmental Conference, 1994. p. 9479.
degaard H, Rusten B, Westrum T. A new moving bed
reactorFapplications and results. Water Sci Technol
1994;29(1011):15765.
degaard H, Rusten B, Westrum T. The development of
the moving bed biolm processFfrom idea to commercial
product. Proceedings WEC/EWPCA/IWEM Speciality
Conference, INNOVATION 2000, Cambridge, UK, 710
July 1998.
Jahren SJ, degaard H. Treatment of concentrated
wastewater in thermophilic anaerobicaerobic moving
bed biolm reactors. Proceedings of VAR-forskningsdagene, NTNU, Trondheim, June 1998. p. 16370.
Jahren SJ, Rintala JA, degaard H. Evaluation of internal
thermophilic biotreatment as a strategy in TMP mill
closure. Tappi J 1999;82(8):1419.
Standard methods for the examination of water and
wastewater. 19th ed. Washington DC, USA: American
Public Health Association/Water Environment Federation, 1992.
Jahren SJ, Rintala JA. The closure of water circuits by
internal thermophilic (55 and 701C) anaerobic treatment in
the thermomechanical pulping process. Water Sci Technol
1997;35(23):4956.
Sierra-Alvarez R, Kortekaas S, van Eekert M, Lettinga G.
The anaerobic biodegradability and methanogenic toxicity
of pulping wastewaters. Water Sci Technol 1991;24
(3/4):11325.
Dubois M, Gilles KA, Hamilton JK, Rebers PA, Smith F.
Colorimetric method for determination of sugars and
related substances. Anal Chem 1956;28:3506.

S.J. Jahren et al. / Water Research 36 (2002) 10671075

[23] Brock TD. Introduction: an overview of the thermophiles.
In: Brock TD, editor. Thermophiles: general, molecular
and applied microbiology. New York: Wiley, 1986.
p. 116.
[24] Jahren SJ, Rintala JA, degaard H. The anaerobic
thermophilic (551C) treatment of thermomechanical pulping (TMP) whitewater using dierent reactor concepts.
Water Sci Technol 1999;40(1112):6775.
[25] Broch-Due A, Andersen R, Opheim B. Treatment of
integrated newsprint mill wastewater in moving bed
biolm reactors. Water Sci Technol 1997;35(23):17380.
[26] Shere SM, Daly PG. High rate biological treatment of
TMP euent. Pulp Paper Canada 1982;83(C):T915.
[27] Kantardjie A, Jones JP. Practical experiences with
aerobic biolters in TMP (thermomechanical pulping),
sulphite and ne paper mills in Canada. Water Sci Technol
1997;35(23):22734.
[28] Rintala JA, Vuoriranta P. Anaerobicaerobic treatment
of thermomechanical pulping euents. Tappi J 1988;
71(9):2017.

1075

[29] Tripathi CS, Allen DG. Comparison of mesophilic and

thermophilic aerobic treatment in sequencing batch
reactors treating bleached kraft pulp mill euent. Water
Res 1999;33:83646.
[30] Magnus E, Carlberg GE, Hoel H. TMP wastewater
treatment, including a biological high-eciency
compact reactor: removal and characterisation of
organic components. Nord Pulp Paper Res J 2000;
15(1):2936.
[31] Jahren SJ, degaard H. Treatment of thermomechanical
pulping (TMP) whitewater in anaerobicaerobic thermophilic (551C) moving bed biolm reactors. Water Sci
Technol 1999;40(8):819.
[32] Rusten B, Mattsson E, Broch-Due A, Westrum T.
Treatment of pulp and paper-industry wastewaters in
novel moving bed biolm reactors. Water Sci Technol
1994;30(3):16171.
[33] Couillard D, Gari!epy S, Tran FT. Slaughterhouse euent
treatment by thermophilic aerobic process. Water Res
1989;23:5739.