The feasibility of an up-flow partially aerated biological filter (U-PABF) for nitrogen and COD removal from domestic wastewater.

An up-flow partially aerated biological filter (U-PABF) was developed to study the removal of nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from synthetic domestic wastewater. The removal of NH4(+)-N was primarily attributed to adsorption in the zeolite U-PABF and to bioprocesses in the ceramic U-PABF. When the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was 5.2h, the ceramic U-PABF achieved a good performance and the NH4(+)-N, total nitrogen (TN), and COD removal efficiency reached 99.08±8.79%, 72.83±0.68%, and 89.38±1.04%, respectively. The analysis of NH4(+)-N, NO3(-)-N, NO2(-)-N, and TN at different depths revealed the simultaneous existence of nitrification-denitrification, and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) in ceramic U-PABF. Illumina pyrosequencing confirmed the existence of Planctomycetes, which are responsible for anammox. The results indicated that the nitrification-denitrification and anammox all contributed to the high removal of NH4(+)-N, TN, and COD in the U-PABF.