Research on the start-up and denitrification performance of long term 5℃ low-temperature pure MBBR process

HAN Wen-jie; ZHAO Zhong-fu; ZHOU Jia-zhong; ZHAO Yan-ruo; YANG Zhong-qi; LIANG Yu-hai

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China Environmental Science ›› 2026, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (3) : 1344-1355.

Water Pollution Control

Research on the start-up and denitrification performance of long term 5℃ low-temperature pure MBBR process

HAN Wen-jie¹, ZHAO Zhong-fu², ZHOU Jia-zhong¹, ZHAO Yan-ruo², YANG Zhong-qi¹, LIANG Yu-hai³

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Abstract

Aiming at the problems of low sewage temperature, poor nitrogen removal efficiency and weak shock resistance of traditional activated sludge process in the alpine regions of southwest China, a pilot-scale experiment of pure moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) was conducted. The startup characteristics, nitrogen removal performance, and shock resistance mechanism under long-term ultra-low temperature conditions were systematically investigated. The results showed that the pure MBBR was successfully started up within 25days at a water temperature of (6.14±1.06)℃. During a long-term operation of 245days with an average water temperature of (5.45±1.29)℃, superior effluent quality was achieved with an actual hydraulic retention time (HRT) only 20% of that of the activated sludge process in the same WWTP. After a 1-month shutdown, the treatment capacity was fully restored within only 14days. In the pure-membrane MBBR system, the first-stage nitrification zone realized the removal of inhibitors such as chemical oxygen demand (COD) and preliminary nitrification, the second stage served as the main nitrification zone, and the third stage ensured stable effluent quality. A single-stage process was adopted in the denitrification zone, where the reflux ratio was flexibly adjusted according to the residual nitrate nitrogen in the anoxic zone to enhance nitrogen removal. Regarding nitrogen removal potential, when facing influent quality shock, increasing dissolved oxygen (DO) in the aerobic zone to strengthen mass transfer and oxygen supply could further improve the system's nitrification load by more than 25%, while driving the nitrogen removal capacity to increase by more than 10%. The excellent low-temperature resistance of the pure MBBR was attributed to two aspects: on one hand, the biofilm enhanced the enrichment of nitrogen-removing functional bacteria, especially low-temperature- tolerant strains such as Flavobacterium and Dechloromonas; On the other hand, the biofilm’s dense structure and complex microbial community supported thermal insulation. For pure MBBR design, enhanced functional bacteria enrichment and high effective biomass should be concurrently considered, thus conferring higher treatment load.

Key words

low temperature / biofilm / multi-stage aerobic / shock resistance / functional bacteria / recovery

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HAN Wen-jie, ZHAO Zhong-fu, ZHOU Jia-zhong, ZHAO Yan-ruo, YANG Zhong-qi, LIANG Yu-hai. Research on the start-up and denitrification performance of long term 5℃ low-temperature pure MBBR process[J]. China Environmental Science. 2026, 46(3): 1344-1355

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