Over 360,000 homes on Long Island have inadequate wastewater treatment technologies. Long Island recently revamped their onsite wastewater treatment laws to mitigate this environmental degradation from septic systems. This seminar will present information about the advanced wastewater treatment technologies that significantly reduce the impact of nitrogen on the environment. The presentation will focus on the role of aerobic treatment technologies and other advanced onsite wastewater treatment technologies.

2. Advanced Onsite
Wastewater Treatment
Technologies
for
Nitrogen Removal
Pete Sabo
Hydro-Action

3. Overview
• Nitrogen in the Environment
• Wastewater Characteristics
• Nitrogen Loading
• Impacts of Nitrogen Pollution
• Onsite Wastewater Treatment Technologies That Reduce
Nitrogen Loading
• Types of Technologies in Suffolk County

4. Sources
• Oakley, S. 2005. Onsite Nitrogen Removal Text. in (M.A. Gross and
N.E. Deal, eds.) University Curriculum Development for Decentralized
Wastewater Management. National Decentralized Water Resources
Capacity Development Project. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville,
AR.
• Suffolk County Officials
• Peconic Green Growth Organization
• US EPA
• NOWRA

5. Nitrogen
• 78% of Earth’s atmosphere is Nitrogen gas
• Natural occurring in the environment
• Nitrogen is transformed in the environment through
multiple methods: fixation, ammonification, synthesis,
nitrification, and denitrification (US EPA, 1993).

7. Nitrogen & Wastewater
Pollution
• Range of Concentrations Cited in Literature, mg/L
Constituent Without Effluent Filter With Effluent Filter
BOD5 (mg/l)
7 to 480 100 to 140
TKN (mg/l)
9 to125 50 to 90
Alkalinity
(as CaCO3) (mg/l)
--- 70 to 594

8. Wastewater Pollution
• Basic calculations:
• Family of 4; conventional septic; ¼ acre lot
• Total of 50 lbs/year (Hantszche and Finnemore, 1992)
• Comparing it to natural biological uptake: ¼ acre of
Bermuda grass can absorb 50 lbs/year Nitrogen (WEF,
2001).

9. Wastewater Pollution
• Build up of nitrates in groundwater
is the most significant long term
consequence of onsite wastewater
disposal
• (Hantzsche and Finnemore, 1992)

10. Wastewater Factors
• 69% of Total Nitrogen
loading from septic
tanks & cesspools
• (source: Kinney, E. L. and Valiela, 2011)

11. Effluent Disposal Factors
• Location of plants roots, soil bacteria, all soil biota
• Effluent being distributed below the zone where plants
and soil biota can absorb nitrogen
• Closer to the water table and aquafer
• Not evenly distributed either; dependent on water
consumption of the home
• Great variation between per capita GPD, BOD, and
nitrogen effluent

12. Wastewater Factors
• Urban density is largest
factor
• Higher density, less ability
for plants to absorb
Nitrogen
• (Gold and Sims, 2000; County of Butte, 1998; Hantzsche and Finnemore, 1992).

14. QUESTION #1
• What is the biggest long
term concern of onsite
wastewater treatment?

15. QUESTION #2
• What is the most significant
factor for wastewater
disposal?

16. Nitrogen Loading
• Average per capita Nitrogen mass loading
of wastewater
• 4 to 18 lbs per capita
• 1.1 million people in Suffolk County with
onsite wastewater systems
• 360,000 homes with onsite treatment
• 209,000 priority (proximity to water)
• 252,000 without septic tank (pre-1972)

17. Existing Infrastructure
• 26% (388,180) Sewered
• 194 WWTP
• Need 550 more
• 74% (1.1 mil) Unsewered
• Cesspools
• Septic Tanks

19. QUESTION #3
• How many homes in Long
Island utilize onsite
wastewater treatment?

20. Human
Health
Impacts

21. Human Health Impacts
1.Methemoglobinemi
a
2.Cancer
3.Birth Defects

22. Methemoglobinemia
Strong Evidence / Positive Correlation
Definition:
• Lack of sufficient oxygen in blood
• Nitrate ingested in infants less than 6 months
• Hemoglobin to Methemoglobin
• Reduced oxygen carrying capacity of circulatory
system
• “Blue Baby Syndrome”

23. Carcinogenesis
Medium Evidence/ Some Positive Correlation
Definition:
• Cancer-causing
• High nitrate levels in drinking water
• Formation of nitrosamines (converted
nitrates/nitrite), which several are carcinogenic
• Tested on animals and proven correlation

24. Birth Defects
Weak Evidence/ Lack of True Positive Correlation
Definition
• Statistically significant increase in congenital
malformations associated with nitrate-rich well
water
• Limited evidence/studies

25. QUESTION #4
• What are the human health
concerns of nitrogen
pollution?

26. Environmental
Health
Impacts

27. Ecological Impacts
1.Eutrophication
2.Oxygen Demand though
Nitrification
3.Ammonia Toxicity to
Aquatic Organisms

28. Eutrophication
• Excess nitrogen can cause the stimulation of
growth, resulting in algal blooms or
overgrowth of aquatic plants
• Dissolved oxygen depletion in the water: fish
kills, aquatic species like shell fish, oysters,
turtles, etc. die, decomposition and odors,
biomass accumulation,

31. Oxygen Demand from
Nitrification
• Nitrogenous biochemical oxygen demand
(NBOD): Nitrification requires high levels of
oxygen and will utilize as much as possible
• Greater demand on oxygen than
carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand

33. Ammonia Toxicity to
Aquatic Organisms
• Nitrogen in the form, NH3-N can be toxic to
aquatic organisms and kill them

35. QUESTION #4
• What are the three
environmental impacts of
nitrogen pollution?

36. Onsite Wastewater
Treatment
• Primary Treatment
• Collection
• Sedimentation
• Effluent Disposal

37. Advanced Onsite
Wastewater Treatment
• Primary Treatment
• Collection
• Sedimentation
• Secondary Treatment
• Aerobic Treatment
• Filtration
• Effluent Disposal

38. Onsite
Wastewater
Treatment

42. How a Septic Tank Works
• Collection:
• Collects the wastewater into a proportionally sized
vessel where sedimentation and anaerobic digestion
occur
• Anaerobic digestion:
• In an oxygen deprived environment, anaerobic
bacteria will treat a small percentage of the total
wastewater mass, nutrients, etc. including Nitrogen

43. How a Septic Tank Works
• Sedimentation and Flotation:
• Flotation occurs as well: mass density less than water
floats, such as fats, oils, greases, etc. which will
coagulate and form a scum layer that sits above the
septic tank outlet
• Septic tanks can remove 10-30% of Nitrogen mostly
through settling the BOD solids and organic material

44. Advanced OWTS
• Post-tank treatment can include aerobic (with oxygen) or
anaerobic (with no or low oxygen) biological treatment in:
• suspended reactors
• fixed-film reactors,
• physical/chemical treatment,
• soil infiltration,
• fixed-media filtration
• disinfection – chlorination -> UV
• Suspended Growth
• Attached Growth
• (Source: US EPA, 2002)

45. Nitrogen Removal
• Sequential Nitrification -> Denitrification
• Aerobic bacteria process first used to
remove BOD (solids) and nitrify organic
Nitrogen and NH4; need to send
aerobically treated wastewater to an anoxic
environment

46. Nitrogen Removal
• Sequential Nitrification -> Denitrification
• Then in an oxygen deprived environment
(anoxic zone), denitrifiying bacteria will
further metabolize the organic-N and NH4
into NO3 to N2 gas
• Using wastewater as the carbon source or
including a technological feature that
supplements the anoxic zone with external
carbon source

47. Nitrogen Removal
• “Biological nitrification/denitrification is
the only process that has been
demonstrated to be feasible, both
economically and technically, for onsite
nitrogen removal (the same can be said
for large-scale wastewater treatment
plants)”
• (Whitmeyer, et al., 1991)

48. Nitrogen Removal
• Nitrification requires high dissolved oxygen due
to the high nitrogenous biochemical oxygen
demand of nitrification (NBOD).
• If there’s not enough oxygen, nitrification will be
limited, and thus overall denitrification and total
Nitrogen removal will be limited as well.

49. QUESTION #7
• What is the only process
that’s economically &
technically feasible to
remove nitrogen?

50. Nitrogen Removal
• Influent wastewater can be used as the carbon source by
recycling nitrified effluent to an anoxic reactor that
precedes the aerobic nitrification reactor
• Operating alternating aerobic/anoxic zones on one
reactor (sequencing batch reactor), or conveying the flow
sequentially through alternating aerobic/anoxic zones
• (US EPA, 1993).
• Denitrification reactors can be designed as
• suspended-growth
• attached-growth processes

51. Nitrogen Removal
• Nitrifying bacteria reproduce significantly slower than
heterotrophic bacteria, thus nitrification is controlled by
heterotrophic oxidation of CBOD;
• High organic loading of CBOD will lead to heterotrophic
bacteria dominating the environment of the biofilm.
• This affects the rates of nitrification and overall reduction
in Total N.
• Sufficient capacity and detention time must be
engineered in order to allow the nitrifying bacteria time
to develop.

52. Nitrogen Removal
• Temperature: Cold temperatures affect overall nitrogen
removal: colder temperatures require longer cell
residence times in suspended-growth systems and lower
hydraulic loading rates in attached-growth systems due
to slower growth rates of nitrifying bacteria.
• Denitrification rates can be significantly affected by
temperature drops below 20 °C, with the denitrification
rate at 10 °C ranging from 20% to 40% of the rate at 20°C
(US EPA, 1993).

53. Suspended Growth
• Biological treatment processes in which the
microorganisms responsible for treatment are
maintained in suspension within the liquid, usually
through mechanical or diffused-air aeration (Metcalf &
Eddy, 1991).
• Concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) has significant
effect on nitrification rates
• 2.0 mg/L is the target
• Aerobic Treatment Units
• Sequencing Batch Reactors

54. Suspended Growth
• Aerobic Units (with pulse aeration)
• Extended aeration activated sludge systems in
which aeration is periodically stopped or pulsed to
promote denitrification.
• Continuous aeration
• 38-61% Nitrogen Removal; 37 to 60 mg/L

55. Suspended Growth
• Sequencing Batch Reactors
• fill-and-draw, and alternating aerobic and anoxic
cycles, are created within a single reactor
• 60% removal; 15.5 mg/L average influent TKN
concentration of 38.4 mg/L (Ayres Associates,
1998).

56. Attached Growth
• “Biological treatment processes in which the
microorganisms responsible for treatment are
attached to an inert medium such as sand, gravel, or
plastic media, and can include either submerged or
nonsubmerged processes (Crites and Tchobanoglous, 1998; Metcalf & Eddy, 1991).
• Surface area is crucial to the media in order to
maximize oxygen transfer rates and maintain
sufficient nitrification levels beyond the heterotrophic
bacteria rates of growth.

57. Attached Growth
• Single Pass Sand Filters (SPSF)
• Most studied of all proposed nitrogen removal
technologies
• Combination of CBOD removal and nitrification
within the sand medium at low organic loadings
• Denitrification within anoxic microenvironments in
the sand
• 8% to 50% removal
• SPSF systems will always be denitrification-limited
due to the lack of availability of both a carbon
source and anoxic conditions.

58. Attached Growth
• Recirculating Sand/Gravel Filters (RSF)
• Well studied
• 15% to 84% removal
• High nitrification rates and consistently higher
denitrification rates than SPSFs because the nitrified
effluent can be recycled back to a recirculation tank
where it mixes with wastewater from the septic
tank, thus using the incoming wastewater as a
carbon source.
• Sludge accumulation in the rock tank, however, can
potentially cause serious operation and
maintenance problems.

59. Technology Type Total-N Removal
%
Effluent Total-N
mg/L
Suspended Growth
Aerobic units w/ pulse aeration 25-61 37-60
Sequencing batch reactor 60 15.5
Attached Growth
Single-Pass Sand Filters (SPSF) 8-50 30-65
Recirculating Sand/Gravel Filters (RSF) 15-84 10-47
Multi-Pass Textile Filters 14-31 14-17
RSF with Anoxic Filter 40-90 7-23
RSF with Anoxic Filter and External Carbon
Source
74-80 10-13

60. Onsite Technologies >85% Nitrification
Process Effectiveness Onsite Status In Suffolk County
Suspended Growth
Aerobic Units Potential Insufficient design
performance data.
and Maintenance
Yes
Attached Growth
Single Pass Sand
Filters (SPSF)
Proven Widespread use.
design and
data.
Recirculating Sand
Filters
Proven Widespread use.
design and
data.
Single-Pass Textile
Filters
Potential Limited data to date.
Probably similar to
Need design data for
loadings nitrification.
Multi-pass Textile
Filters
Potential Limited data to date.
design and
data.
Yes

61. SUMMARY OF INNOVATIVE/ALTERNATIVE ONSITE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FOR SINGLE FAMILY HOMES AND SMALL COMMERCIAL USES
Company Name of System
Suffolk Cty.
Status
NSF 245 or
EPA 3rd Party
Test
NSF 350
reuse NSF
41 Dry Test
Seasonal Uneven
Use No Possible
Good
TN mg/L (lower
is better)
TN % Reduce
Organic/
Food loads
Yes No
Option
H-20
Vehicular
loading Yes
No Option
Function in Power
Outage Yes/ No
Option2
Capital Cost
Energy Cost/
month $0.18/
kWh
Replace septic
tank Yes/No
Option
Replace
leaching Pit
Footprint
SF
Depth Ft1
More
(link to
Fact Page)
TRICKLING FILTER / FIXED FILM (aerobic)/PACKED BED
AquaPoint BioClere Model 16/12 Y P 11-16 57-70% N N Y $$$ $19 N N 20 4-7' Link FP1
SeptiTech SeptiTech / STAAR Pilot 2 Y P 11 75% N O N $$$$ $29 N N 51 4.25 Link FP2
Eliminite C-Series Y G <15 >70% - 90% Y O N $$$* $5-11 O N 96 6-7' Link FP4
Orenco Systems AdvanTex AX20 Pilot 1 Y G 14-16 63- 82% N N N $$$* $2.60-$5.00 N N 20 0-2.6' Link FP5
Orenco Systems AdvanTex AX-20RT Pilot 1 Y G 14-16 63-82% N N N $$$* $5 N N 44 8.33' Link FP6
Premier Tech Aqua
(div, Premier Tech
Technologies Ltd.)
Ecoflo CoCo Filter ECDn
Model Series
Pilot 2 Y G <19 54% N N O $$$* $3.40 O N 50-93 SF 6.4' Link FP7
Waterloo Biofilter Waterloo Biofilter Pilot 2 Y G 14 59-65% N N N $$$* $7 N N 25-75 0-7 Link FP8
EXTENDED AERATION/ACTIVATED SLUDGE
Hydro-Action
Industries
AN Series Pilot 1 Y P 11-15 58+% N O Y $$ $23 Y N 55 7.5' Link RP10
Norweco, Inc. Singulair TNT Pilot 1 Y P 12-14 68% N N Y $$ $17 Y N 55.5 8/10 Link FP11
EXTENDED AERATION/FIXED FILM (Submerged)/SUSPENDED GROWTH/ACTIVATED SLUDGE
Info Pending
Adelante Consulting,
Inc.
Pugo Systems Pilot 2 Y P 17 61% N N Y $$$* $14 Y N 40 8'
Bio-Microbics MicroFAST Pilot 2 Y P ~12 70% O O Y $$$ $15-$25 Y/O N Var. 4.6' Link FP12
Delta Environmental
Products/ Pentair
ECOPOD N Series (500-1500) Y Y/O 20 50% O N Y $$ $21 N/O N ~50 6-7' Link FP13
F. R. Mahony &
Associates inc.
Amphidrome Pilot 2 Y P 11 69% N N $$$$ $13 N N 120 10' Link FP17
Fuji Clean USA, LLC
Fuji Systems
CEN5, CEN7, CEN10
Pilot 2 Y P 10 74% N N Y $$ $7 Y N 33 sf 6.5' Link FP18
Jet, Inc. Model J-500CF Y N 13.2 72.6+% N Y $$ $25+ Y N 50 7' Link FP19
Norweco, Inc. Hydro-Kinetic Pilot 1 Y P 8 80% N N Y $$$ $14 Y/O N ~120 8' Link FP20
MEMBRANE BIOREACTORS with ACTIVATED SLUDGE
Bio-Microbics BioBarrier MBR Series Pilot 2 Y Y P <10 80-90% O O N $$$$ $18-27 O N ~ 150 7-8' Link FP21
BUSSE Green
Technologies
BUSSE MF - B - 400 Pilot 1 Y Y 16 60-90% Y N O $$$$ $16-27 Y N 40 0 Link FP22

63. QUESTION #6
• What are the two main types
of advanced OWTS
technologies?