Successful treatment of side-stream dewatering liquors from thermally hydrolized and mesophilic anaerobically digested (THP-MAD) biosolids

This paper describes the start-up and one year operation of a side-stream treatment plant treating THP-MAD dewatering reject liquors at the centralized sludge centre at the sewage works in Tilburg, The Netherlands. One year operation demonstrated dewatering reject liquors from THP-MAD to be successfully treated by a side-stream treatment plant comprising a PHOSPAQ struvite reactor and an ANAMMOX reactor. Anticipated potentially inhibiting characteristics of THP-MAD for the anammox process were successfully mitigated by pre-aeration in a Phospaq reactor and addition of dilution water to the reject liquor. The side-stream treatment plant was able to handle fluctuations in load and wastewater composition