Investigation on the performance of sugarcane bagasse as a new carbon source in two hydraulic dimensions of denitrification beds

Hydraulic modeling of denitrification beds is very useful for improving the performance of substrates. In this work, a column study was conducted for 98 days on two types of substrates using two different column lengths and at varying loading rates to determine the best hydraulic dimensions of the substrates. One substrate consisted of soil alone and the other substrate consisted of the same soil along with sugarcane bagasse (acting as an additional carbon source). The substrate with 0.7 h actual hydraulic retention time and 5.84 cm h(-1) hydraulic loading rate was chosen as the best model for simulation of denitrification substrate with an optimum nitrate removal efficiency (85%) and a maximum removal rate (50 mg L-1 h(-1)). The Fourier Transform Infrared analysis confirmed the degradation of sugarcane bagasse during the denitrification process. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.