1. Mainstream ANITA Mox Pilot Testing at Los Angeles County Joint Water Pollution Control Plant
Meg Hollowed
Veolia Water Technologies

2. Presentation Outline Background LACSD Pilot Testing Activities Summary
Sidestream vs. Mainstream
Deammonification
Agency and Facilities
ANITA Mox Process
LACSD Pilot Testing Activities
Sidestream Testing at the JWPCP
Mainstream Testing at the JWPCP
Summary
Not going to discuss sidestream testing today but LA county has done several pilots.

3. Conventional Treatment Plants
Mainstream
Mainstream is top line of unit processes. Sidestream refers to ancillary unit processes.
Sidestream

4. Deammonification
Similar to terms like nitrification or denitrification
Nitrification
Conversion of ammonia to nitrite or nitrate
Bacteria called Ammonia or Nitrite Oxidizing Bacteria
Denitrification
Conversion of nitrate to nitrogen gas
Heterotrophic denitrifying bacteria
Deammonification
Conversion of ammonia to nitrogen gas
Bacteria required include Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria and Anaerobic Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria (Anammox)

5. LACSD Wastewater Treatment Facilities
11 facilities; 10 with effluent nitrogen limits; 4 with solids processing

6. Joint Water Pollution Control Plant
Rated capacity: 400 MGD
Ocean-discharge; no effluent nitrogen limits
cBOD removal only (HPOAS) N

7. Interest in Nitrogen Removal
May need to meet more stringent effluent nitrogen levels
Regulatory drivers
Water reuse
On-going program to evaluate nitrogen removal technologies

8. Districts’ Anammox Research
Sidestream
Anammox Enrichment (2003, )
Pilot-Scale DEMON, Whittier Narrows WRP ( )
Pilot-Scale ANITA Mox, JWPCP ( )
Pilot-Scale ANITA Mox, Valencia WRP (2014)
Mainstream
Pilot-Scale ANITA Mox, JWPCP ( )

9. Mainstream Testing: Research Questions
Does this process work for JWPCP?
How well does this process work?
Effect of Feed C/N (bsCOD/NH4-N)
How “finicky” is this process to operate?
Is NOB competition an issue?
Process robustness
Study still in progress
Results presented are preliminary

10. Veolia’s ANITA Mox Process
Biofilm-based system
Retains slow-growing organisms (i.e., AnAOBs)
Greater protection from shocks/toxicity
Environment for both aerobic/anaerobic organisms
High surface area/volume

11. Conventional Treatment Plants
Existing mainstream process for carbon removal (i.e. High rate A/S)

12. Process Flow Diagram System retrofitted from 2013-2014 IFAS Pilot
Add general pfd
Explain the purpose for the primary effluent
Builds biomass to improve settling / capacity
Helps reduce effluent NOx
System retrofitted from IFAS Pilot

13. IFAS Pilot Layout Reactor Clarifier 40’ Cargo Container
Photo of container
40’ Cargo Container

14. Feed Characteristics Parameters Unit Primary Effluent*
Secondary Effluent
Nitrogen
TKN
mg N/L 56 45
NH4 46 44
Organic matter
COD
mg/L
395 49
sCOD
181 37
BOD
215 3
TSS
152 12
Alkalinity
mg CaCO3/L
383
370
July 2016 Data, Medians
*Fresh

15. Mainstream ANITA Mox Operational Parameters for NOB Control
Aeration
DO Setpoint
Intermittent Aeration
SRT
Sludge Wasting Rate
Note JWPCP centrate’s dilute nature

16. Test Phases Conducted To-Date
Date Range
Target Feed C/N
Type of Carbon Supplement
Status
Startup
5/26/17 – 7/11/17
Beverage Manufacturing Waste
Completed 1
7/12/17 – 9/11/17
~ 0.5
Primary Effluent (Stored) 2
9/12/17 – 11/21/17
~ 1.0 3
11/22/17 – 12/15/17
~ 0.75 4
12/21/17 – now
~ 2.0
Primary Effluent (Fresh)
In Progress

17. Ammonia Removal Performance
Vs. NH4 surface rate of C (Paris results)
Increase Feed C/N

18. Nitrogen Removal Performance
Increase Feed C/N

19. Effect of Feed C/N Increasing the Feed C/N (Phase 1  2)
Date Range
Feed C/N
Effluent TIN
(mgN/L)
TN Removal Efficiency
TN SARR (g/m2-d) 1
8/18/17~
9/11/17
0.58
16.0
63%
1.1 2
10/9/17~
10/25/17
1.0
9.7
77%
0.86
Increasing the Feed C/N (Phase 1  2)
Reduced effluent TIN by ~6 mgN/L
But also reduced the surface removal rate by ~20%

20. Sludge Settling Issues
Observed some sludge settling issues, as indicated by sludge SVI and effluent TSS. Installation of an anaerobic selector appeared to have some effect. Changing primary effluent feed from “stored” to “fresh” also appeared to have some effect.

21. Stability of Anammox Activity
Batch Activity test
No loss of activity after 8 months
No need for augmentation

22. Operation with Selector and Fresh PE
Substantial P removal
P release pattern consistent with EBPR

23. Summary: Mainstream ANITA Mox Testing
Process enables nitrogen removal from low C/N wastewater without carbon addition
Performance
Higher feed C/N appears to improve TIN removal efficiency, at the expense of removal rate.
Sludge settling can be an issue, which seems to be somewhat alleviated by:
Operating with an anaerobic selector
Eliminating primary effluent storage
Robustness
Appears stable under mainstream conditions
Add next step

24. Acknowledgements Project Team Erik Krikorian Tom Knapp Ken Smith
Jim Barry
Michael Liu
Nikos Melitas
JWPCP Operations
Dave Frediani
Sejal Patel
JWPCP Laboratory
Joe Khoury
Julie Sebata
Hong Zhao
Mitch Johnson
Samuel Liang
Rich Dimassimo