A NOVEL TECHNOLOGY FOR TREATING MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER AT DEMONSTRATIVE SCALE

The paper reports the results of an experimental investigation aimed at transferring aerobic granulation to a demonstrative SBBGR system (i.e., a submerged biofilter that operates in a "fill and draw" mode) for the treatment of municipal wastewater by financial support of the EU Life programme. The results show that following the generation of granular biomass during the start-up period, the SBBGR was able to remove 80-90% of COD, total suspended solids and TKN in primary effluent from a municipal wastewater treatment plant, independently of the hydraulic residence time investigated (i.e., from 12 down to 3 h). The pocess was characterised by a very high sludge age value (?c?150 d) that led to a biomass concentration as high as 40 gTSS/Lbed and a sludge production almost one magnitude order lower than commonly reported for conventional treatment plants.