Nitrifying and Denitrifying Bacteria in Epiphytic Communities of Submerged Macrophytes in a Treated Sewage Channel

A quantification of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria present in different compartments (water, sediments, submerged macrophytes) of a treated sewage channel was made to estimate their influence on the nitrogen balance and to assess the significance of macrophytes for nitrification and nitrogen conversions in general. Considerable numbers of autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrifying and denitrifiying bacteria were found to be present in the epiphytic communities of different species of submerged macrophytes of a treated sewage channel. Comparing the influence of the different compartments on total stream nitrification and denitrification it could be concluded that dense beds of submerged macrophytes particularly positively influence nitrification. Epiphytic nitrifiers were estimated to be as important for the total nitrification as nitrifiers in the sediment. Denitrification was mainly taking place in the sediment. The influence of the suspended nitrifiers and denitrifiers on the nitrogen balance was assumed to be negligible.     

Dynamische Modellierung des pH-Einflusses bei der Nitrifikation hochbelasteter Abwässer Dynamic Modelling of the pH Influence in Nitrification of Highly Concentrated Wastewater

Wastewater with high ammonia concentrations is produced by many industries, e.g. in the production of fertilizer and explosives and in the agricultural and food industry. A direct discharge into rivers and lakes has to be avoided: Oxidation of ammonia requires 4.56 g DO/g NH⁺₄-N and results in a decrease of dissolved oxygen concentration. Moreover, nitrate stimulates the proliferation of algae, with regard to the eutrophication of natural waters. For municipal wastewater with an ammonia concentration less than 50 mg/L NH⁺₄-N nitrification is a standard process. However, the removal of higher loaded industrial effluents still poses many questions. Recently, lab-scale and pilot-scale investigations show remarkable advances in the increase in nitrification efficiency and in the stabilization of the process. But because of changing flowrates and concentrations, the aid of advanced control algorithms is necessary. Some of the most important variables of biochemical reactors can be determined only with difficulty, at times only with off-line measurements. Model-aided measurement approaches try to determine these variables indirectly from easily measured variables. An experimentally-proved reactor model is required. Therefore, a dynamic model of nitrification in ideally mixed reactors is proposed based on mass balances for the components ammonia. nitrite, nitrate. dissolved oxygen DO, carbon dioxide, pH. nitrosomonas and nitrobacter. The biological reaction rates consider oxygen limitation and substrate inhibition. The process model presented is tested by lab scale experiments using an aerated stirred tank reactor and a fluidized bed reactor. Conformity between the predictions of the model and the observed data was positive. It has been shown that the nitrite oxidation by nitrobacter is the most sensible step in nitrification.     

Nitrifikation – Grundlagen des Stoffwechsels und Probleme bei der Nutzung von Ammoniakoxidanten

Nitrification – Fundamentals of the Metabolism and Problems at the Use of Ammonia Oxidizers From an ecological point of view, a great problem results from the release of increasing amounts of inorganic and organic nitrogen compounds. Apart from gaseous nitrogen compounds, such as the greenhouse gas N₂O, soluble nitrogen compounds such as ammonium cause difficulties. In recent years, great progress has been made regarding the reduction of the emission of sulfur and phosphorus compounds. Since there are no effective strategies for the decrease of nitrogen releases, the emission of such compounds has even been increasing. Therefore, great efforts are being made to eliminate the soluble nitrogen compounds in particular, for example in wastewater treatment plants. A decisive meaning befits the chemolithoautotrophic ammonia oxidizers. This review focuses on the ecological consequences of the release of ammonia in particular, the metabolism of the ammonia oxidizing microorganisms under consideration of the latest research results, and the problems that arise in the context of using these bacteria for the removal of ammonia.     

Treatment of Groundwater Containing Methane – Combination of the Processing Stages Desorption and Filtration

Methane is produced under anaerobic conditions by metabolic processes in microbes and can occur in waters of the types anoxic‐anaerobic (RG 1/2) and anaerobic‐reduced (RG 2). If the concentration of methane lies below 0.2 mg/L, then no special treatment processes are required apart from dosing of oxygen and rapid sand filtration, which are performed to remove iron, manganese, and ammonium. The research results show that a higher concentration of methane must be specially treated. From the point of view of stable deferrisation, oxidation of up to 2 mg/L is tolerable in rapid sand filtration. However, an unusual increase in regrowth potential was observed. For this reason, the oxidation of methane should be reduced to 0.5 mg/L until further experiments yield results on the microbiological stability of treated water. Rapid sand filters for nitrification and demanganisation should have a maximum methane loading of 0.2 mg/L. The experiments show that nitrification first occurs at a methane concentration below 0.1 mg/L. During the working in of demanganisation, the inlet water should be free of methane. Therefore desorption is often required. If there is less than 1 mg/L to be degassed, then desorption can be achieved with overpressure in the oxidiser without any change in the carbonate‐bicarbonate equilibrium. With other systems, such as packed columns, wetted‐wall columns, or percolators, carbon dioxide is removed simultaneously. By means of the coefficients of similarity found, it was shown that methane and carbon dioxide desorb in different proportions depending on the system, and that the discharge of carbon dioxide can be reduced through a decrease in the air/water ratio.