Partial nitritation/anammox process treating digital textile printing effluent: lab-scale experimental and modelling trial

In recent years, single-stage partial nitritation/anammox process emerged as a sustainable solution for nitrogen removal from industrial wastewater. However, the process application often requires case-specific adaptation. In the present study, process application as a decentralized treatment to digital textile printing wastewater was assessed. The biomass was inoculated in a lab-scale reactor and progressively acclimated until reaching the target loading rate. The experimental campaign was characterized by the occurrence of biomass inhibition phenomena causing process instability. At quasi-stable conditions, total nitrogen removal was in compliance with regulations on discharge in the public sewer (100 mgN/L). Process modelling could simulate experimental data, also indicating its importance for process monitoring and control practices.