Aeration is essential for reducing ammonia in wastewater ponds. Harmful ammonia can damage ecosystems and pose safety risks. Flexible, low-power aeration and stimulation of nitrifying bacteria leads to effective, stable reductions in ammonia and improvements in water quality.
Summary
Aerating Wastewater to Reduce Ammonia
In this blog, I want to talk to you about wastewater and why it’s so important to get it right — and what can happen when you don’t. To do so, I’d like to tell you about one of our clients with a big, smelly problem in their wastewater treatment plant.
Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Wastewater Management
One of our wastewater clients has an old landfill that’s gradually turned into a pond. It’s full of about 30 years of rubbish. What happens at these sites is that over time, the rubbish breaks down and leaches out gas and water, leaving behind what’s essentially bin juice — and in this case, 30 years’ worth of it.
We got involved here because one of the environmental consultants who helps the council run this facility contacted us with a problem that they were having with ammonia levels as a result of the “bin juice”. Our client needed to meet certain criteria with their pond, and unfortunately, the ammonia was sky-high at the time. Let’s take a look at how we helped.
Aeration for Wastewater Management
Inadequate oxygenation was preventing the ammonia from breaking down in this case, so we went for aeration as our primary solution. Aeration helps to break down ammonia through a process called the nitrogen cycle. Essentially, it creates an oxygen-rich environment that stimulates nitrifying bacteria, which remove ammonia from the wastewater naturally.
To get started, the client wanted us to recommend aeration systems to solve their problem. One of the challenges with this approach was that they didn’t have much of a power supply available or easy availability for large aeration systems.
This meant they were looking for a relatively low-power, easily accessible aeration solution. As such, we went for four 3hp Air-O-Lator Aquarium Commercial units. This was because, with this setup, we didn’t need any crane equipment to get the kit in or out of there.
That in itself saved the client a lot of money in terms of the installation and ongoing maintenance. Because power was limited, the client couldn’t run a power-hungry solution all the time. With the four units, if the ammonia levels were right, they could shut some of these units down. That saved on power consumption; it also helped improve the longevity of the motors because it meant that they could run in cycles rather than needing to be on 24/7.
More importantly, when they did need that extra oomph for the full-blown power consumption, they were able to do so and aerate the water well.
Why It Worked
Aerators like the Air-O-Lator Commercial units are really good for mixing water as well as pumping in oxygen.
It’s not just about getting oxygen in the water when it comes to breaking down BOD and ammonia in wastewater — mixing is equally important. Oxygen matters, but when you have an aerator to put oxygen in the water, if that water isn’t mixed around, that oxygen doesn’t actually contact the bugs that you want growing and the nasty stuff that you don’t want growing.
If the oxygen doesn’t go where you want it to, that defeats the purpose of the aerator in the first place… or you then need to have big, monstrous aerators in multiple locations. So these smaller units were a much better option for something like this client’s needs.
Getting the Levels Just Right
One thing we found when aerating this pond was that ammonia levels went down well and quite quickly, but lingered around the upper limit. We were left thinking, “Is this going to be okay?” This matters because in this kind of environment — an old landfill — you never know exactly what’s going to leach into the ground from one moment to the next.
We found a solution. We do a lot of work with biological water treatments, so we knew we could introduce a high population of nitrifying bacteria to bring the ammonia down quickly. We’ve used this biological solution a few more times, but now, we don’t need to rely on it because we’ve managed to get everything working well: oxygen levels are right, the nutrient load is balanced, and everything works well.
But we know that we have multiple tools to fall back in just in case we need them!
Need More Help?
If you’re struggling with ammonia in your wastewater, aeration can help. Aeration and mixing can bring oxygen into the water, promote the right kinds of bacteria, and bring down your ammonia levels. But if you’re still having trouble getting it down to the levels you need, you can try introducing nitrifying bacteria to give a last little push.
If you’d like some help with that, contact us — we’re always happy to come out and assess your problem to find a solution that works for you.
