Denitrification of high nitrate concentration wastewater using alternative carbon sources

The use of different organic carbon sources in the denitrification of wastewater containing 2500 mg nitrates/L in a SBR was studied. Three alternative sources of carbon were tested: wastewater from a sweet factory, a residue from a soft drinks factory and a residue from a dairy plant. The first two are sugar-rich, whereas the third presents a high content in lactic acid. Maximum specific denitrification rates of between 42 and 48 mg NO3-N/g VSS h were obtained. The effluents were nitrate-free and very low COD concentrations were obtained in 4-6 h reaction time, especially with the sugar-rich carbon sources. The values of the denitrifier net yield coefficient were higher than when using methanol (0.93-1.75 g VSSformed/g NOx-Nreduced). The lowest value was obtained using the lactic acid-rich residue. The optimum COD/N ratios varied between 4.6 for the lactic acid-rich carbon source and 5.5-6.5 for the sugar-rich carbon sources.