AMMONIA REMOVAL IN LARGE AERATED LAGOONS

This paper describes practical ammonia removal mechanisms and options for large aerated lagoon systems. While nitrification processes in lagoon systems are reasonably well understood, achieving complete year-round nitrification in large systems may be problematic due to high wastewater flows and/or large existing pond surface areas. Some ammonia reduction options commonly used on lagoon systems are impractical for this type of system. This paper presents feasible nitrification options for large systems and describes practical approaches to achieving low effluent ammonia year round. An application is presented of retrofitting an existing large lagoon system to achieve nitrification.