Bioresource Technology 96 (2005) 7–14

Biological nutrient removal by a sequencing batch reactor

(SBR) using an internal organic carbon source in digested
piggery wastewater
D. Obaja, S. Mace, J. Mata-Alvarez *

Departament d’Enginyeria Quımica i Metallurgia, Universitat de Barcelona, Martı i Franques, no. 1, pta. 6, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Received 5 September 2003; accepted 5 March 2004
Available online 16 April 2004

Abstract
Experiments in a lab-scale SBR were conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of using an internal carbon source (non-digested
pig manure) for biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal in digested piggery wastewater. The internal C-source used for
denitrification had similar effects to acetate. 99.8% of nitrogen and 97.8% of phosphate were removed in the SBR, from an initial
content in the feed of 900 mg/l ammonia and 90 mg/l phosphate.
Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Piggery wastewater treatment; Internal carbon source; Sequencing batch reactor; Nutrient removal; Nitrification; Denitrification;
Biological phosphorus removal

1. Introduction as an electron donor for denitrification in sequencing

Biological denitrification is a reliable method for
nitrogen removal from wastewater (Abufayed and Sch-
roeder, 1986). Heterotrophic bacteria use the available
carbon source. Since nitrified liquor is usually deficient
in organic carbon and the low carbon source level limits
the biological denitrification process, sufficient organic
carbon sources must be provided for proper denitrifi-
cation. In addition, for proper biological phosphorus
removal, an easily biodegradable carbon source is nee-
ded at the P release stage. Effluents from pig manure
anaerobic digesters still contain a large amount of COD
and a large nutrient load (ammonia and phosphate).
Though a small fraction of the COD consists of volatile
fatty acids and could be used for denitrification, easily
biodegradable COD is clearly needed, given the
amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus. Synthetic chemi-
cals, such as methanol or acetic acid, are expensive, but
are quite effective. However, the use of non-digested pig
manure as a source of easily biodegradable carbon is an
alternative and cheaper method. The use of wastewater
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +34-93-402-1305; fax: +34-93-402-
1291.
E-mail address: jmata@ub.edu (J. Mata-Alvarez).
batch reactors (SBRs) was suggested by Pallis and Irvine
(1985) and implemented for piggery wastewaters by
Bortone et al. (1992). This approach has aroused greater
interest recently, especially the use of domestic waste-
water with the organic fraction of municipal solid waste
(OFMSW) as carbon source. For instance, Beccari et al.
(1998) studied the potential of readily biodegradable
COD obtained from acidogenic fermentation of the
OFMSW as electron donor for denitrification. Experi-
ments at an SBR pilot plant used domestic wastewater
from the wastewater treatment plant at Fusina (Venice).
The results showed a remarkable improvement both in
denitrification rate and in flexibility of the response to
influent load peaks. The main advantage of this ap-
proach is economic, as no expensive external carbon
source is required. Other studies have followed this idea
of using residual effluents as substitutes for chemical
carbonaceous sources (e.g. Monteith et al., 1980;
Skrinde and Bhagat, 1982; Bernet et al., 1996; Lee et al.,
1997; Ra et al., 2000; Graja and Wilderer, 2001;
Cervantes et al., 2001).
This study aimed to establish an approach to
removing nutrients from digested pig manure in an SBR
with internal easily degradable organic matter and to
explore the feasibility of this more cost-efficient removal

0960-8524/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2004.03.002
8 D. Obaja et al. / Bioresource Technology 96 (2005) 7–14

system. SBRs provide a simple and even economical way Table 1

of treating piggery wastewaters. SBR systems offer Characterisation of the digested and non-digested piggery wastewater
supernatant after centrifugation
substantial benefits over alternative conventional flow
systems, because of their flexibility and capacity to meet Parameters Digested Non-digested No. of
piggery piggery analyses
various treatment objectives (Norcross, 1992; Ketchum, wastewater wastewater
1997).
pH 8.42 8.45 –
In the experiments, non-digested pig manure was TS (g/l) 11.21 13.42 5
added at the beginning of the denitrification stage, to- VS (g/l) 5.35 6.23 5
gether with acetic acid in different ratios. Reactor per- TSS (g/l) 2.58 3.10 5
formance was then studied under three operating VSS (g/l) 1.96 2.2 5
VFA (mg/l) 1050 5275 3
conditions (P1, P2 and P3), with different proportions of
BOD5 (mg/l) 1730 3250 4
external (acetic acid) and internal (volatile fatty acids of COD (mg/l) 3085 7450 8
pig manure) carbon. Alkal7:74 (mg/l) 1183 1450 5
The appropriate C/N ratios were established with Alkal3:53 (mg/l) 5226 6530 5
care, so as to achieve complete denitrification without Total N (mg/l) 1650 785 8
NHþ 4 -N (mg/l) 1600 720 6
any carbon source excess. Thus, both waste of time and
NO
3 -N (mg/l) 0 0 6
oxygen consumption were avoided. NO
2 -N (mg/l) 0 0 6
PO3

4 -P (mg/l) 147 120 6

2. Methods
Timers
Speed pH meter
2.1. Substrate and readily biodegradable C-source Regulator T1 T2 T3 T4

Raw and digested pig manure was obtained from a

piggery at Caldes de Montbui, 30 km from Barcelona. HCl
The latter had been treated in an industrial anaerobic
digester on the farm. The effluent from the digester was Stirrer

centrifuged (Beckman model J2-21) at 4000 rpm for 15

min at 5 °C, to remove most of the suspended solids. Influent

The supernatant was used as substrate for the experi- Effluent

ments. The non-digested pig manure was used after
Air
centrifugation as an easily biodegradable carbon source.
Before being fed into the reactor, the supernatant was
diluted with tap water to the desired concentration (see
Fig. 1 for feed preparation). Table 1 shows the charac-
teristics of the supernatant and of the non-digested pig
manure. pH

2.2. Experimental device PT100

The SBR, a cylindrical tank with a volume of 3 l, was

REACTOR
made of Pyrex glass and fitted with mixing and air SBR
sparging systems (Fig. 2). It was complemented by two DIFFUSER
peristaltic pumps (Cole Parmer Instruments, Model
Fig. 2. Diagram of the SBR.

To be diluted
with SBR effluent number 7553-85, Chicago), one for feeding, the other for
Feed reservoir Piggery wastewater
(here, with tap drawing off effluent and excess sludge. The SBR opera-
water)
NH4+ -N concentration = reservoir NH +4 -N tion cycles were controlled by programmable timers.
concentration =
900 mg/l 1600 mg/l A data acquisition system (model CRISON pHrocon
(Table 1) 18, Barcelona) was used for the continuous recording of
Fig. 1. Feed preparation: after feed is prepared, it is introduced in the
the mixed liquor temperature and of pH. Optimum pH
reactor. As there are 2 l remaining from the previous cycle, the initial was set at 8.1. Higher pH was corrected by mechanical
concentration of NHþ 4 -N is 300 mg/l.
addition of hydrochloric acid HCl (0.5 N).
 D. Obaja et al. / Bioresource Technology 96 (2005) 7–14 9

2.3. Analytical methods for removing nutrients from digested pig manure was
established. This consisted of three cycles of 8 h per day.
Chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxy- The maximum initial NHþ 4 -N concentration that could
gen demand (BOD5 ), alkalinity, total nitrogen (TN) and be treated in the reactor was 500 mg/l, with a hydraulic
solids (total suspended solids (TSS), volatile suspended retention time (HRT) set at one day. Thus, the total N
solids (VSS), total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS)) removed was 1500 mg NHþ 4 -N/l day.
were all analysed following standard methods (APHA, However, later optimisation experiments (Obaja,
1992). 2002) improved removal efficiency. In these experiments,
Nitrogen compounds, nitrates, nitrites and phos- several cycle lengths, 4, 8, 12 and 24 h, were tested. In all
phates were analysed with an ionic chromatograph of them, a constant quantity of effluent was fed per day (1/
(KONIK model KNK-500-A Series, column Waters IC. 3 of reactor volume). As the number of cycles per day was
Pak) under the following conditions: automatic injector increased and the quantity of substrate fed per day re-
(Kontron model HPLC autosampler 465), 80 ll volume mained constant, the total amount of substrate fed was
sample, conductivity detector (Wescan) for concentra- increased and the HRT was decreased.
tions between 2 and 50 mg/l, and UV detector (Kontron The results obtained in these optimisation experi-
HPLC 332) for low concentrations (0.1–2 mg/l). ments are shown in Table 2 and Fig. 3. As can be seen,
Ammonium was determined by an ammonia-specific the best yields in terms of nitrification rate were ob-
electrode (Crison, model pH 2002, Barcelona). tained in 4-h cycles. With this strategy, the maximum
Volatile fatty acids (VFA) were analysed by gas initial NHþ 4 -N concentration that could be treated in the
chromatography (HP 5890 Series II, flame ionisation reactor was found to be 300 mg/l per cycle with an HRT
detector) under the following conditions: column from set at 0.5 days. Thus, the total N removed in 6 cycles/day
120 to 170 °C, injector at 280 °C, detector at 300 °C and was 1800 mg NHþ 4 -N/l day. Therefore, this was the ini-
volume sample 1 ll. Helium was employed as carrier gas. tial strategy chosen to remove the ammonium and or-
Samples were centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 10 min ganic matter from the influent with an internal carbon
and filtrated through 0.45 lm to remove suspended sol- source for denitrification.
ids prior to being fed to the chromatographic columns.
3.2. Optimisation of the dose of easily degradable carbon

3. Results and discussion Reactor performance was studied under three oper-
ating conditions (experiments P1, P2 and P3), of which
3.1. Optimisation of the cycle length external (acetic acid) and internal (volatile fatty acids of
pig manure) carbon made up, respectively, 75% and
In a preliminary study using acetic acid as carbon 25%, 50% and 50%, and 0% and 100% (% expressed in
source (Obaja et al., 2003), a set of optimal conditions terms of mg of acetic acid). All these experiments were

Table 2
Influence of the cycle length
Cycle’s length Initial NHþ
4 -N Average NHþ4 -N NO
x -N PO3

4 -P Maximum N HRT (days)
(h) concentration in nitrification removal (%) removal (%) removal (%) removal
reactor (mg/l) rate (mg NHþ 4 -N/l h) (mg N-NHþ
4 -N/day l)

4 300 150 99.6 100 98.4 1800 0.5

8 500 119.4 99.7 100 97.3 1500 1
12 700 87 99.8 100 98.6 1400 1.5
24 1300 68 99.6 100 98 1300 3
Species concentration (mg/l)

400
NH4-N (mg/L)
300
NO3-N (mg/L)
200
NO2-N (mg/L)
100
PO4-P (mg/L)
0
0 1 2 3 4
Time (h)

Fig. 3. Profiles of the concentrations of the different species of N and P obtained during the cycle of 4 h.
10 D. Obaja et al. / Bioresource Technology 96 (2005) 7–14

conducted at 25 °C (estimated as a minimum for the 1994; Andreottola et al., 1997; Lee et al., 1997; Su et al.,
temperature of the digester effluent after centrifugation 1997; Tilche et al., 1999, 2001; Edgerton et al., 2000; Ra
in a full-scale plant). et al., 2000).
Each cycle began with an anaerobic stage of 1 h (the According to Bernet et al. (1996), at the denitrifica-
reactor was stirred but not aerated) for phosphorus re- tion stage, the C/N ratio needed for a complete removal
moval. Between the second and third hour of the cycle of NO


3 -N and NO2 -N is 1.7. Therefore, at the third
there was an aerobic stage, with stirring and aeration, hour of the cycle (anoxic stage), 1130 mg/l of VFA were
for nitrification. The fourth hour was anoxic for deni- added (25% coming from non-digested pig manure and
trification, adding initially the easily biodegradable 75% acetic acid). Fig. 4A shows the profiles of NHþ 4 -N,
carbon source, with stirring but no aeration. The cycle NO
3 -N and NO

2 -N during this cycle.
should have finished at this stage. However, as the main During this phase, which lasted 1 h, nitrate concen-
effect of adding the internal carbon source was to in- tration decreased from 257 to 0 mg NO
3 -N/l and all the
crease NHþ 4 -N concentration in the reactor, the cycle VFA introduced were consumed. When the 1130 mg/l of
length had to be extended. In fact, three additional VFA were introduced into the reactor, 74 mg/l of NHþ 4-
hours were needed (intermittently aerobic and anoxic N from the internal carbon source were introduced at
every 30 min) to remove this nutrient, resulting in an the same time. To remove these, another nitrification
HRT of 0.87 days. The operating conditions of this new stage was added, resulting in a nitrate concentration of
cycle length are shown in Table 3. 64 mg/l. As this stage had to be shorter, only 1 h was
After 7 h, the sludge was drawn, with stirring and programmed for nitrification, as against the 2 h of the
aeration throughout the stage to ensure a homogeneous previous stage. For complete denitrification, 153 mg/l of
purge. Thus, SRT (or sludge age) was kept constant and VFA were necessary. Following the same strategy for
equal to 11 days in all the experiments (Bortone et al., supplying easily degradable carbon, 35 mg/l of NHþ 4 -N
1994). The solids then settled and liquid was drawn were introduced at the same time, which again was re-
(approximately 1/3 of the reactor supernatant in each moved through a new nitrification stage that produced
cycle including the volume of the purge) in order to 31 mg/l of NO
3 -N. By this method, following the cycles
maintain the HRT level set. Then a new cycle started. consisting of successive phases of nitrification–denitrifi-
cation, all the nutrients were completely removed. Easily
degradable C-source was added six times during the
3.2.1. Period 1
entire cycle. Fig. 4A and B show the complete set of
In this period, the internal carbon source was estab-
stages (7 h overall) required for a complete removal of
lished as 25% from the VFA supplied by the wastewater
nitrogen, using 25% of VFA coming from non-digested
and 75% as acetic acid.
pig manure.
During the aerobic stage, NHþ 4 -N concentration de-
The first stage of phosphate removal, during the first
creased from 300 to 1 mg/l (i.e. 99.7% NHþ 4 -N removal).
hour of the cycle, saw an increase in phosphate con-
The average nitrification rate was 149.5 mg/l h, a figure
centration from 29.2 to 31.9 mg PO3
4 -P/l. During the
higher than other authors’ results, which oscillate
two hours of the aerobic stage, this concentration de-
mainly between 3 and 150 mg/l h (Bortone et al., 1992,
creased from 31.9 to 2.9 mg/l: 91% phosphate removal
(see Fig. 4C). The value of the P/C ratio was 0.045.
Table 3
Operational parameters of the lab-scale SBR used in this study 3.2.2. Periods 2 and 3
Parameters (in the reactor) Experiment All these results for P1 are summarised in Table 4 and
P1 P2 P3 Fig. 4A–C. The results for P2 and P3 are also reported
Volume (l) 3 3 3 in Table 4 and are shown in Figs. 5A–C and 6A–C,
Influent flow rate (l/day) 3.43 3.43 3.43 respectively.
Cycle length (h) 7 7 7 As Figs. 4–6 and Table 4 show, results were very
Number of cycles per day 3.43 3.43 3.43
similar and good in the three periods: nutrient removals
Influent volume per cycle (l) 1 1 1
mg of NHþ ranged from 97.8 to 99.9. In all periods, profiles of
4 -N removed per 1028 1028 1028
day and litre of reactor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in the reactor were com-
HRT (day) 0.87 0.87 0.87 parable. Introduction of easily biodegradable carbon
SRT (day) 11 11 11 source at the beginning of the anoxic phase led to a high
pH <8.1 <8.1 <8.1
rate of denitrification, with all nitrate removed within
Temperature (°C) 30 30 30
% of internal C-sourcea 25 75 100 the first hour of this phase.
Number of easily 6 6 6 The almost identical performance of 100% internal
biodegradable C-source carbon feeding source and 25% internal/75% external
additions during the cycle carbon feeding source suggests that the internal carbon
a
Remaining up to 100 was acetic acid. source (non-digested pig manure) is a viable choice for
 D. Obaja et al. / Bioresource Technology 96 (2005) 7–14 11

Species concentration
300
250
200 NH4-N

(mg/L)
150 NO3-N
100 NO2-N
50
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(A) Time (h)
Species concentration

40
30
(mg/L)

20 PO4-P

10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(B) Time (h)
Species concentration

1500
(mg/L)

1000
VFA
500

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

(C) Time (h)

Fig. 4. Profiles of the concentrations of the different species of N and P in a single cycle of the SBR operation during period 1.

Table 4
Results of the three periods studied and of a previous experiment with acetic acid as carbon source
Period 1 Period 2 Period 3 Previous operation without
internal C-source
Nitrification
Influent NHþ 4 -N concentration (mg/l) 300 301 300 300
Effluent NHþ 4 -N concentration (mg/l) 1 3 3 4.3
Average nitrification rate (mg/l h) 149.5 149 149.5 74.6
% Removal 99.9 99.8 99.8 99.7
Denitrification
Initial NO
3 -N concentration (mg/l) 262 260 257 264
Final NO
3 -N concentration (mg/l) 0 0 0 0
Consumed VFA (mg/l) 447 442 437 450
% of VFA coming from the non-digested pig manure 25 75 100 0
Phosphorus removal
PO3

4 -P concentration (mg/l) at the beginning of the 29.2 28.3 28 29.6
anaerobic stage
PO3

4 -P concentration (mg/l) at the end of the anaerobic 31.9 30.2 30.1 41.2
stage
PO3

4 -P concentration (mg/l) at the end of the aerobic stage 2.9 3.2 3.2 3.2
% Removal 98.1 97.8 97.8 97.8
In all the experiments, values of C/N and P/C were maintained constant and equal to 1.7 and 0.045 respectively.

enhancing SBR performance. The extra nitrogen added these results with those obtained in the operation with-
by the internal carbon source offers no impediment to out internal C-source (Table 4) shows that results are
either nitrogen or phosphorus removal. Comparison of very similar in terms of removal yields, but are better
12
Species concentration
300
250
200
(mg/L)
150
100
50
0
0 1
(A)
Species concentration
40
30
(mg/L)
20
10
0
0 1
(B)
1200
Species concentration
1000
800
(mg/L)
600
400
200
0
0 1
(C)
Fig. 5. Profiles of the concentrations of the different species of N and P in a single cycle of the SBR operation during period 2.
with an internal carbon source, as the average nitrifi-
cation rate obtained is around double.
Good nutrient removal results are not surprising,
since acetate constitutes 50% of products from the fer-
mentation of pig manure (Lee et al., 1997) and is rapidly
consumed and degraded by heterotrophic bacteria.
However, it has to be stressed that, in all the periods
using internal carbon source, three additional hours
were needed to remove the added nutrients. In conse-
quence, the length of the cycle and thus the HRT need to
be extended considerably.
3.3. Batch experiments
In each period studied, the biomass in the activated
sludge was characterised by the determination of
ammonia utilization rate (AUR), nitrogen utilization
rate (NUR) and oxygen utilization rate (OUR). The
AUR test can also be used to identify possible inhibitory
effects from wastewater.
AUR, NUR and OUR increase when the percentage
of internal carbon source increases. In fact, when the %
of non-digested pig manure is higher, more nutrients are
added, which gives higher rates of AUR, NUR and
OUR because of the greater activity of the viable bio-
mass (Table 5). Higher AUR, NUR and OUR show
D. Obaja et al. / Bioresource Technology 96 (2005) 7–14
NH4-N
NO3-N
NO2-N
2 3 4 5 6 7
Time (h)
PO4-P
2 3 4 5 6 7
Time (h)
VFA
2 3 4 5 6 7
Time (h)
that functional groups in activated sludges are sensitive
to the specific characteristics of their substrate.
Table 5 also compares the average nutrient removal
rate, the AUR, the NUR and the OUR of the experi-
ment with an internal carbon source, and the values
obtained in a previous experiment (Obaja et al., 2003),
in which acetic acid was the sole carbon source. Using
the same concentration of NHþ 4 -N, AUR, NUR and
OUR were higher in experiments with non-digested pig
manure used as internal C-source than in experiments
with acetic acid. Thus, the type and dose of organic
carbon source affect the type of bacteria that develop
and the organism growth rate, making the viable bio-
mass more active (Tam et al., 1994).
3.4. Economic aspects
Comparison of experiments with internal and exter-
nal carbon sources for denitrification makes it clear that
the advantage of an internal carbon source is the saving
from not having to use an expensive easily biodegrad-
able carbon source. However, there is another factor to
take into account, and this has a negative effect on the
economics of this approach.
As Table 3 shows, in experiments using the internal
C-source, 1028 mg of NHþ 4 -N per day and litre of
 D. Obaja et al. / Bioresource Technology 96 (2005) 7–14 13

Species concentration
300
250
200 NH4-N

(mg/L)
150 NO3-N
100 NO2-N
50
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(A) Time (h)

35
Species concentration

30
25
(mg/L)

20
PO4-P
15
10
5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(B) Time (h)

1200
Species concentration

1000
800
(mg/L)

600 VFA
400
200
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(C) Time (h)

Fig. 6. Profiles of the concentrations of the different species of N and P in a single cycle of the SBR operation during period 3.

Table 5
Average of nutrient removal rates, values of AUR, NUR and OUR, and percentage of nutrient removals obtained during the three periods
Parameters Units P1 P2 P3 Acetic acid as carbon
source (Obaja et al., 2003)
Ammonium removal rate mg NHþ 4 -N g VSS

1
1
h 57.7 62.5 68.2 24.3
Nitrate removal rate mg NO
3 -N g VSS
1
1
h 98.8 107.0 116.8 105.6

1
1
Phosphate removal rate mg PO3

4 -P g VSS h 5.2 5.6 6.1 3.9
AUR mg NHþ 4 -N g VSS
1
1
h 31.6 32.7 34.2 27.5
NUR mg NO
3 -N g VSS

1
1
h 38.7 40.1 42.5 31.1
OUR mg O2 g VSS
1 min
1 3.5 3.6 3.7 1.7
Ammonium removal % 99.9 99.8 99.8 99.7
Nitrate removal % 99.9 99.8 99.9 99.9
Phosphate removal % 98.1 97.8 97.8 97.8

reactor can be removed in 3.43 cycles (7 h long), feeding
1/3 of the reactor volume in each cycle. However, a
much better yield in terms of N removal per volume of
reactor is obtained with acetic acid used as carbon
source. With this latter chemical, 1800 mg of NHþ 4 -N
per day and litre of reactor can be removed, using six
cycles per day (4 h long) (see Table 2). This means that,
if the internal C-source is used, a larger amount (75%
more) is needed to remove the same amount of NHþ 4 -N.
In addition, if fresh pig manure is to be used for the
substrate needed for denitrification, equipment to pre-
pare this substrate (filter, pump, etc.) should also be
provided. In consequence, higher investment is needed,
if no raw acetic acid (or methanol) is used for the anoxic
step. The two aspects need to be balanced, though the
high prices of chemicals should make the period needed
to recover the additional investment short. The resource
conservation implicit in the use of an internal C-source
is also a factor––not an economic one, but a question of
sustainability––that should be taken into account.
14 D. Obaja et al. / Bioresource Technology 96 (2005) 7–14
4. Conclusions
The sequencing batch reactor is an efficient tool for
biological carbon and nutrient removal, capable of
achieving effluents with very low nitrogen and phos-
phorus concentrations from highly concentrated waste-
waters. With digested piggery wastewater, nitrogen and
phosphorus removal yields are around 100% and 98%,
respectively.
The time cycle and the duration of each single phase
within the time cycle must be designed properly, in order
to optimise the removal of nutrients. The choice of
hydraulic residence times and cellular retention times
will depend on this optimisation.
Denitrification can be seen not only as a way of
removing nitrogen pollution, but also as an efficient
method of removing organic carbon. Complete denitri-
fication was obtained when the C/N ratio was equal to
or higher than 1.7.
The experiments carried out demonstrated the feasi-
bility of using non-digested pig manure as an easily
biodegradable carbon source for denitrification and
dephosphatation. The process is as simple as when acetic
acid or methanol is used. Indeed, the same excellent
nutrient removal is obtained, and the additional carbon
and NHþ 4 -N introduced can also be removed.
The denitrification rate is affected by the type and
dose of organic carbon source used. Higher mean re-
moval rates are obtained with an internal carbon source.
This can be explained by the fact that different types of
organic carbon sources influence the type of bacteria
that develop, organism growth rate, nitrate reduction
and the degree of accumulation of intermediate by-
products (Tam et al., 1992, 1994).
The main advantage of using an internal carbon
source is the saving in chemicals. This has a very positive
effect on the plant’s operating costs. However, an
internal carbon source needs higher investment due to
the substantial increase in volume needed and the nature
of the unit for preparing the substrate for denitrification.
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