IFAS Media in a Sequencing Batch Reactor for Nitrification and Denitrification of High Strength Wastewater

In 1996 a study group identified pig farm waste as one of Asia's foremost environmental problems. So in 1999 a US AEP led effort established the Environmental Center for Livestock Waste Management (ECLWM) on the campus of the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST), Taiwan. The ECLWM constructed a state-of-the-art prototype swine manure wastewater treatment system. A vertical, glass lined steel tank fitted with three banks of manufactured fixed-film synthetic media is being operated as a biofilm sequencing batch reactor (BSBR) to treat the liquid wastes flushed from several confinement pig buildings at the located on the campus of the NPUST. The treatment unit handles approximately 63 m3 of the waste flow from six different buildings housing a total of approximately 540 head or a total weight of approximately 45,000 kg. Effluent from this treatment unit is decanted to a large aboveground storage tank prior to reuse as flushing water. Excess treated water is applied to grassland in the area at agronomic rates. The flush water being treated in this system has an average biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of approximately 1,600 mg/l. The treated water has a BOD generally less than 50 mg/l and consistently less than 100 mg/l. Total Kjeldahl nitrogen concentrations are reduced from 60 to 90 percent depending upon the loading rate and the operating schedule.