Method for removing ammoniacal nitrogen from hypersaline effluents through a consortium containing high-salinity-resistant heterotrophic nitrifying and aerobic denitrifying microorganisms

A method for removing ammoniacal nitrogen from hypersaline effluents through a consortium containing high-salinity-resistant heterotrophic nitrifying and aerobic denitrifying microorganisms, the method comprising:

• a) supplying an activated sludge from an effluent treatment plant for an effluent;
• b) providing a hypersaline aqueous effluent with salinity similar to the activated sludge from the effluent treatment plant;
• c) inoculating a reactor with the aforementioned activated sludge of item (a) and the hypersaline aqueous effluent of item (b) in a proportion ranging from 70:30 to 50:50;
• d) feeding and aerating the activated sludge for 4 hours, aerating for 3 hours, allowing to settle for 1 hour and discarding a supernatant for 4 hours;
• e) discarding 30% of the supernatant and completing a volume of the reactor with the effluent of item (b);
• f) weekly increasing the salinity of the effluent of item (b) with an addition of NaCl in a range of 5 g/L until a desired salinity between 100 and 200 g/L is reached, provided that there is no inhibition of nitrification, that is, a residual ammoniacal nitrogen is less than 20 mg/L;
• g) at salinities lower than 100 g/L, adding a source of carbon to the effluent of item (b) in order to ensure a minimum ratio of COD:NH4+ from 20:1 to 40:1;
• or, at salinities greater than 100 g/L, maintaining a C:N ratio, measured as Total Organic Carbon (TOC)/NH4+, between 4 and 7;
• and
• h) maintaining a phosphorus source at a minimum NH4+/P ratio of about 5;
• wherein an alkalinity of the effluent of item (b) is maintained above 900 mg/L, a pH of the effluent of item (b) is maintained between 6.5 and 7.5 and a temperature of the effluent of item (b) is maintained between 27 and 33° C.