Establishment of Biological Nitrogen Removal Process for Drinking Water Treatment in Malaysia

Eutrophication arises from human activities has been recognized globally as an environmental issue. Human activities have greatly increased the input of phosphorus and nitrogen into the water bodies which place a heavy pressure on clean water resources. There are limitations in the conventional water treatment processes, where phosphorus and nitrogen could not be removed efficiently. For nitrogen removal, biological method emerges as a sustainable and economically feasible alternative in recent years. Though the biological nitrogen removal (BNR) method is widely recognized in developed countries with temperate climate, knowledge and expertise on the application of this treatment process is relatively limited in developing countries, so as Malaysia in tropical region. Thus, this research aims to provide a preliminary view on the establishment of the BNR process for drinking water treatment in the local context. A lab scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) seeded with fish pond sludge and activated sludge in the volume ratio of 1:1 was operated for the BNR process. After four weeks of sludge cultivation, the characteristic of simultaneous nitrification-denitrification was observed. The removal of total nitrogen (TN) was found exceeding 60% and little nitrate-nitrogen (NO3̄-N) concentration was observed at the end of the process. Besides, the reduction in orthophosphate (PO43--P) concentration in a BNR system has indicated the process was able to perform nitrogen and phosphorus removal simultaneously. These findings suggest that the establishment of BNR is feasible in Malaysia.