NITRATE ADDITION FOR THE CONTROL OF ODOR EMISSIONS FROM
ORGANICALLY OVERLOADED, SUPER RATE TRICKLING FILTERS
Gary P. Lorgan, Environmental Engineer
John D. Hill, Environmental Engineer
Scott M. Summers, Environmental Engineer
Eastman Kodak Company
Kodak Park Division
Rochester, New York 14650
INTRODUCTION
The controlled addition of sodium nitrate has been shown to be effective in reducing
hydrogen sulfide emissions from trickling filters utilized at Eastman Kodak's (Kodak
Park Division) "King's Landing Wastewater Purification Plant" located in Rochester, New
York. This plant was designed to provide centralized treatment of 36 MGD of industrial
wastewater resulting from the manufacture of photographic paper, film, and chemicals
at the 1900 acre Kodak Park complex. The wastewater treatment plant consists of primary settling and neutralization followed by two parallel plastic-packed super rate
trickling filters which precede a completely mixed activated sludge system. The average
wastewater characteristics are given in Table I and a block diagram of the wastewater
treatment plant is shown in Figure 1.
Table I.   King's Landing Influent Wastewater Characteristics
(Average based on 1977 data)
BOD5        TODa        TOC TKN NH4-N NO3-N N02-N
mg/l 380 500 97 23 9.3 1.4 0.78
lbs/day 92,000     120,000        24,000 5,700 2,300 340 190
Total Oxygen Demand-Test procedure is explained in the "Procedure" section of this article.
The trickling filters were designed as "roughing units" to dampen out peak organic
loadings, thus stabilizing the feed to the aeration basins. Performance evaluations have
confirmed the capability of the filters to perform this function. Significant organic over-
loadings during peak production periods, however, produced odor emissions to the
extent that routine operation of the trickling filters was suspended until a solution could
be found. Previous studies had shown that the major component of these odors was
hydrogen sulfide. These odors most probably occur as a result of the microbial reduction
of sulfates to sulfides in the anaerobic zones of the trickling filter media.
One alternative available was to cover the trickling filters and treat the collected off-
gas. This option was investigated and promised to be successful but at high capital and
operational costs. The other alternative was to investigate operational changes which
had potential to, independently or in some combination, result in odor-free operation of
the trickling filters. Possible operational changes included: kinetic adjustment using
nitrate addition, effluent recycle, and hydraulic load reduction.
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