Capability of Immobilized Mix Culture Technique as a Bio-Eco Engineering for River Basin Management

Nitrogen removal capability of bio-reactor systems were investigated in the laboratory in order to extend the treatment process for river basin management. Biomass from activated sludge was immobilized using gel and bio-pellets were prepared. Three upflow bioreactors R1, R2 and R3 were packed with bio-pellets, anaerobic granules, and mixture of bio-pellets anaerobic granules and biodegradable plastic respectively. Comparing the performance of reactors, R1 demonstrated well at nitrification while R2 showed its capability in denitrification and R3 showed good performance in both nitrification and denitrification. Moreover, results showed that R3 removed 80% of incoming total nitrogen where as reactors R1 and R2 removed less than 60% of total nitrogen. Despite the effluent total organic carbon in all reactors was almost same, N removal process and rate in each reactor was different. It suggests that sources of biomass define the diversities of biomass in the reactors which ultimately guides the N removal process and rate as well. The developed system is wide applicable and has operational advantages in terms of efficiency, aeration cost, and biomass handling.