Start-Up of Sidestream Deammonification at Mwrdgc’s John E. Egan Water Reclamation Plant

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (District) completed installation of the ANITA™ Mox sidestream deammonification process from Veolia Water Technologies, Inc. dba Kruger (Kruger) at its John E. Egan (Egan) Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) in Schaumburg, Illinois in August 2016. The process was designed to treat 870 m3/d (0.23 mgd) of centrate at 1,080 mg/L NH3-N and provide a guaranteed NH3-N removal efficiency of greater than 75%. Process startup challenges included alkalinity limitations, interruptions caused by upstream equipment shutdowns, and variability of centrate flow. Challenges were managed and ammonia removal averaged higher than 75% during the startup period. This paper will highlight how the flexibility of the system allowed staff to overcome operational challenges during startup. It will also provide data that demonstrates system performance over the course of the startup.