SHARON process as preliminary treatment of refinery wastewater with high organic carbon-to-nitrogen ratio

In this study, a partial nitritation reactor (SHARON, Single reactor for High activity Ammonium Removal Over Nitrite) was used to treat ammonium-rich (up to 620 mg N/L) petrochemical wastewater produced by the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) and characterized also by a high organic carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C/N, up to 1.1 gC/gN). The reactor was initially fed with a synthetic influent containing only NH4-N as substrate, then a preliminary acute toxicity test was used to assess the potential inhibiting effect of IGCC wastewater on SHARON biomass: the observed IC10, IC50, and IC90 (14.9, 54.5, and 200 mL/L, respectively) suggested a prudential operating strategy based on the gradual replacement of the synthetic medium with the IGCC wastewater. As the synthetic influent was replaced by the IGCC wastewater, the resulting influent alkalinity-to-NH4-N ratio (expressed as inorganic carbon-to-nitrogen molar ratio, Cinorg/N) influenced process performance in terms of NH4-N removal efficiency. Despite the high influent C/N ratio, when the reactor was fed only with the IGCC wastewater, the ammonium removal efficiency was as high as 53 ± 10%, the corresponding effluent NO2-N/NH4-N ratio was 1.14 ± 0.42 and nitrate production was low. The presence of the organic substrate allowed the development of heterotrophic bacteria, as indicated by the high dissolved organic carbon removal efficiency (80 ± 8%) and the low effluent C/N ratio (0.20 ± 0.04). Such reactor performance made the effluent suitable for its subsequent treatment by anammox (ANaerobic AMMonium OXidation), providing useful information about the applicability of the SHARON process for the preliminary treatment of IGCC wastewater and similar ammonium-rich industrial wastewaters with high C/N ratio.