The multi‐stage vertical bioreactor in water engineering

Abstract

The excess of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous compounds in surface water (ie, coastal areas, lakes, and rivers) is responsible for major economic, public health, and environmental crises. Their impact is measured in multi‐billion‐dollar losses, in greenhouse gas emissions and severe algal blooms whose toxicity and geographical dimensions are being monitored and recorded. The present paper focuses on four areas, namely: (a) the economic impact of nutrient pollution, (b) a brief glance at the evolution of the technologies associated with nutrient removal from water/wastewater, (c) a review of the existing conventional planar reactors used in nutrient removal plants, and (d) a description of a novel multi‐stage vertical bioreactor and its removal performance, microbial ecology, comparative costs, and construction flexibility. This bioreactor with acronym STAR (simultaneous treatment for ammonia/phosphate removal) is the first multistage bioreactor with vertical configuration used for the simultaneous nitrification, denitrification, and biological phosphorus removal from wastewater. The bioreactor shows high nutrient removal efficiencies of over 95% for both phosphorous and nitrogen compounds. Due to its vertical configuration, this bioreactor requires a smaller footprint and its modularity makes it exceedingly flexible to accommodate to the restricted construction spaces in urban areas.

Investigation of the flow dynamics of a Vertical Bioreactor using the Residence Time Distribution

“…As their name indicates, vertical bioreactors have a vertical orientation, which reduces their footprint while retaining the same reactor volume. Reza collected the following information in Table 1 [8] about the footprints of FIGURE 1.2: CFD OF A RECTANGULAR REACTOR [7] different BNR facilities. Reza has also shown vertical bioreactors to be effective Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) bioreactors with high removal efficiencies of phosphorus (90%) and nitrogen-compounds (95%) [9].…”