Carson, California

Tomorrow Water’s 1st Mainstream Demonstration

Shortcut nitrogen removal has been proven at full-scale with side-stream installations at some of North America’s biggest Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRFs). But, American plants have yet to take advantage of anammox’s potential for mainstream nitrogen control.

Red anammox bacteria were grown in Tomorrow Water’s AMX media, made of expanded polypropylene

Tomorrow Water is leading the effort for mainstream anammox development, with demonstration pilots at California’s most advanced treatment facilities.

Our first mainstream demonstration processed 7200 gpd of secondary effluent at Los Angeles Country’s JWPCP facility. 

Nitrite amendments were used to demonstrate the ability of Tomorrow Water’s anammox bacteria to thrive in mainstream flow conditions.

Nitrite amendments produced a sharp (90%) increase in nitrogen removal using AMX. Increasing the nitrogen loading rate at a 20min empty-bed contact time (EBCT) resulted in rapid nitrogen removal rates.

Demonstration Results

• Removal rates up to 5.4 kg N/m3/d in the mainstream using a high-rate, up-flow Anammox biofilter (7200 GPD)

• AMX improves anammox retention via packed-bed media filtration 

Tomorrow Water is now demonstrating the AMX technology for both side-stream and main-stream applications at the Hyperion WRRF in LA. With our partners, we continue to develop new AOB/Anammox growth techniques to match our clients’ unique needs.