The mitigation effect of free ammonia and free nitrous acid on nitrous oxide production from the full-nitrification and partial-nitritation systems

Abstract

The potentials of using endogenous free ammonia (FA) and free nitrous acid (FNA) as nitrous oxide (N₂O) mitigators were investigated in treatment of both mainstream and sidestream wastewater. Although the N₂O emission factor of a sidestream partial-nitritation (PN) reactor (averaged 1.70 % ± 0.39 %, n = 30) was about 2.4 times higher than a mainstream full-nitrification (FN) reactor (averaged 0.72 % ± 0.24 %, n = 30) (P < 0.01), one-hour exposure of PN sludge to 1.5 mg HNO₂-N/L FNA could virtually abolish N₂O emission. As for FN sludge, both 45 mg NH₃-N/L FA and 0.015 mg HNO₂-N/L FNA successfully mitigated N₂O production at varying dissolved oxygen (DO) levels (50 % vs 61 %), while 1.5 mg HNO₂-N/L FNA not only reduced more N₂O (92 %) but also altered the N₂O dependency on DO. Both FNA and FA sludge treatment were effective N₂O mitigation strategies with FNA toward the end of carbon neutrality and FA being more economically appealing (2 % cost saving).

Keywords: Carbon–neutral wastewater treatment plants; Free ammonia; Free nitrous acid; Full nitrification; Nitrous oxide; Partial nitritaiton.