Efficiency of nitrogen compound treatment using airlift bioreactor for shrimp culture tank

Abstract

Packed bed external loop airlift bioreactor (PBABR) was proven to have capacity in treating wastewater containing nitrogen compounds such as ammonia and nitrate. The 60L PBABR comprised aerobic and anaerobic zones for the nitrification and denitrification, respectively. The plastic bioball packing was packed in both aeration and non-aeration zones to allow the attachment of the targeted microorganisms. Three sets of experiment were carried out. The first experiment was performed with synthetic wastewater without the actual shrimp culture, and the system was illustrated to be able to control the level of ammonia and nitrate. The nitrification and denitrification rates in this experiment were 0.563-3.971 and 2.290-18.931 mgN/L/d, respectively. The second experiment was performed with a small number of actual shrimp culture. The treatment system was proven to have a slightly better performance than the control pond without the PBABR. Nitrogen compounds could be controlled satisfactorily without the addition of methanol. Experiment III was conducted with a larger number of shrimp and the treatment pond was found to be superior to the control pond in terms of the survival rate and the final shrimp weight