EFFECT OF LOADING RATES ON NITROGEN REMOVAL EFFICIENCY AND NITRIFICATION WITHIN ALGAL TURF SCRUBBERS

Kebede-Westhead, E.¹, Pizarro, C.¹, Mulbry, W.¹, & Wilkie, A. C.^{2 1}Agricultural Research Service, U.S.D.A., Beltsville, MD 20705-2350 USA; ² Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0960, USA A potential alternative to land application of livestock manures for crop production is the production of algae to recover the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) present in the manure. The specific objectives of these experiments were to test the effects of different loading rates of anaerobically digested dairy manure on nitrogen removal efficiency and nitrification within algal turf scrubbers (ATS). Laboratory-scale ATS units were operated by continuously recycling 220 l of wastewater and adding manure effluents daily. The algal turfs contained mixed indigenous assemblages of benthic algae. The most abundant genera were Ulothrix, Oedogonium, and Rhizoclonium. Weekly harvest of algal biomass, and wastewater samples were analysed for total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), ammonium (NH₄-N), nitrate, and elemental composition. In previous experiments with loading rates of 0.6–0.96 g TN m^-2 d^-1, algal nitrogen accounted for 42–50 % of input NH₄-N. Nitrate production accounted for the bulk of remaining input NH₄-N. Lower loading rates (0.24 and 0.48 g TN m^-2 d^-1) tested here showed a higher removal rate where algal nitrogen accounted for 71% of input NH₄-N (56% of TN), and nitrate production was negligible. The disappearance of NH₄-N from wastewater in scrubbers measured over 4–5 hours showed initial rates of about 6 mg NH₄-N hr^-1 g^-1 DW algae, corresponding to 3.7 g NH₄-N d^-1 m^-2. This was followed by slightly lower rates, probably indicating limitation in carbon and/or micronutrients.