Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2004ND52B

Sample Analysis, Kinetic Studies, and Modeling of a Full-Scale Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor for Ammonia Removal

Institute: North Dakota
Year Established: 2004 Start Date: 2004-03-01 End Date: 2005-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $9,690 Total Non-Federal Funds: $19,381

Principal Investigators: Wei Lin

Project Summary: High concentrations of ammonia in wastewater discharges have been shown to be toxic to fish and cause dissolved oxygen (DO) depletion in receiving streams, especially during periods of low river flow. In the mid-1990's, the reach of the Red River of the North from the Cities of Moorhead and Fargo to the confluence with the Buffalo River in Minnesota was identified as impaired for both ammonia and dissolved oxygen.In 1999, the USEPA revised their water quality criteria for ammonia. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency subsequently adopted a site specific standard for ammonia for the impaired reach of the Red River of the North based on the new criteria and developed a new discharge limit for the City of Moorhead.The City of Moorhead developed a facility plan and, based on that plan, constructed an innovative process, the attached growth moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR), to meet the new limits in 2002.An evaluation of this new, innovative process is necessary in order to determine the most critical operational parameters. A better understanding of the process gained by studying the key parameters via a kinetic model will result in improved operational efficiency and reduced effluent concentrations of ammonia, thus improving the overall water quality of the Red River of the North.The objectives of the proposed research include (1) monitoring the system operation under various flow and ammonia loading conditions and (2) developing and calibrating a kinetic model to further evaluate and optimize critical design and operational parameters for the separate stage nitrifying MBBR. The research will also be widely applicable to the MBBR process in general, and thus, expand the body of current knowledge associated with this new process.