• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.775-780
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• 2009

The efficacy of nitrifying sludge existed in biological nutrient removal process was examined for possible removal of endocrine disrupting chemical(EDC) in the effluent of wastewater treatment plant. Some of ammonia oxidizing bacteria causes ammonia oxidation mediated by ammonia monooxygenase(AMO) activity, which has low substrate specificity resulting in cometablic degradation of several chemicals. In this study, the removal of three model EDCs such as bisphenol A(BPA), nonylphenol(NP) and dibutyl phthalate(DBP) was studied in batch cultures using nitrifying sludge, BOD-oxidizing sludge with low nitrifying activity, and sterilized sludge. Nitrifying sludge showed higher initial removal rates in all batches of three EDCs when it was fed with ammonium as an energy source. The acclimation time was required for the removal of EDCs in batches using BOD-oxidizing sludge or nitritefed nitrifying sludge. That retardation seemed to attribute to the slow growth of cells using the EDCs while ammonium-fed nitrifying sludge could degrade EDCs through simultaneous cooxidation with ammonia oxidation. Sterilized sludge was also tested under the same conditions in order to find the contribution of physical adsorption to the removal of EDCs. About 10~20% of initial EDCs dose was removed when using sterilized sludge. Thus the biological activity is likely to play major role for the degradation of BPA, NP, and DBP rather than the physical adsorption from wastewater.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.691-698
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• 2009

Trickling filter has been extensively studied for the domestic wastewater treatment especially for the small scale plants in rural area. The performance of the trickling filter depends on the microbial community and their activity in the biofilms on the media. Nitrification. denitrification, and phosphorus removal of the trickling filter from the wastewater depend on the activity and the amount of the specific microorganisms responsible for the metabolism. For the estimation of the performance of a trickling filter, batch nitrification experiment and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were carried out to measure the microbial activity and its distribution on the media of the trickling filter. Batch nitrification activity measurement showed that the top part of the 1st stage trickling filter had the highest nitrification activity and the maximum activity was 0.002 g $NH_4$-N/g MLVSS${\cdot}$h. It is thought that higher substrate (ammonia) concentration yields more nitrifying bacteria in the biofilms. The dominant ammonia oxidizer and nitrite oxidizer in the biofilm were Nitrosomonas species and genus Nitrospira, respectively, by FISH analysis. Less denitrifiers were found than nitrifiers in the biofilm by the probe Rrp1088 which specifically binds to Rhodobacter, Rhodovulum, Roseobacter, and Paracoccus. Phosphorus accumulating bacteria were mostly found at the surface of the biofilm by probe Rc988 and PAO651 which specifically binds to Rhodocyclus group and their biomass was less than that of nitrifiers.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.293-298
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• 2011

Nitrifying bacterial community structures of suspended and attached biomasses in a full-scale integrated fixed-film activated sludge process were investigated by analyzing 16S rRNA gene sequences obtained from pyrosequencing. The suspended biomass had a higher number of ammonia-oxidizing bacterial sequences (0.8% of total sequences) than the attached biomass (0.07%), although most of the sequences were within the Nitrosomonas oligotropha lineage in both biomasses. Nitrospira-like nitrite-oxidizing bacterial sequences were retrieved in the suspended biomass (0.06%), not in the attached biomass, whereas the existence of Nitrobacter-like sequences was not evident. The suspended biomass had higher nitrification activity (1.13 mg N/TSS/h) than the attached biomass (0.07 mg N/TSS/h). Overall, the results made it possible to conclude the importance of the suspended biomass, rather than the attached biomass, in nitrification in the wastewater treatment process studied.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.79-85
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• 1983

Ammonia oxidation activity of polluted water samples in Jinhae Bay and isolated strain from the seawater was investigated, and effects of environmental factors such as temperature, salinity, substrate concentration to the ammonia oxidation were also investigated. The ammonia oxidation activities of sediments, 0.01-0.04mg eq. $NO_2-N/l/h$, were exceptionally higher than that of sea water, $0.5{\sim}1{\mu}g$ eq. $NO_2-N/l/h$. the activities of muddy sediments at station 4 and 2 were 0.03~0.04mg eq. $NO_2-N/l/h$ and that of sandy sediment at station 3 was 0.002mg eq. $NO_2-N/l/h$. In the case of sea water, the activity of polluted area, station 1, was 2 times higher than that of offshore, station 4. The isolated strain reached log phase after 30days culturs and its oxidation activity was $2{\sim}3{\mu}g$ eq. $NO_2-N/day$. The maximum oxidation of ammonia by IA 13 strain occured at 30mg/l oxidation increased with the salinity rising up to 100% seawater concentraion. And temperature for maximum oxidation of ammonia was $35^{\circ}C$. the oxidation increased with the salinity rising up to 100% seawater concentration.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.129-137
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to evaluate the biodegradability of the micro-contaminant, clindamycin antibiotic, under nitrifying activated sludge (AS) condition. Based on the short-term clindamycin degradation batch test at an environmentally relevant concentration (10 ppb), clindamycin disappearance half-life ($t_{0.5}$) was estimated to be 9.1hrs under nitrification condition. However, biodegradation was slower (26.1 hrs) when nitrification was inhibited. Also, one clindamycin metabolite was detected under nitrification condition, but not under inhibited nitrification condition. Based on the mass spectra, the metabolite is suspected to be clindamycin-sulfoxide (m/z 441), which is known to have antimicrobial activity. The metabolite was not degraded during the long term batch study, suggesting that under the conditions tested, biodegradation of clindamycin in activated sludge systems is ineffective.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.128-138
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• 1998

This study was focused to find how each factors effect on the biological nitrification in wastewater treatment under high ammonia nitrogen concentration. Batch reactors in aerobic conditions were used to test the treatment efficiency of mixed liquor, nightsoil and piggery wastewater. The results are summeried as follows; Initial ammonia nitrogen concentration and pH were the direct influencing factors of nitrite build-up. More than 250 mg NH$_{4}$$^{+}$ - N/L in initial concentration built up nitrite and then the inhibition rate to Nitrobacter was above 70 percentage. And maximum nitritation rate was showed at pH 8.3 and nitrification could be completely achieved by pH control. Temperature and dissolved oxygen were the indirect influencing factors of nitrite build-up. These were a great effect on the activity of nitrifying microbes and ammonia nitrogen removal. Maximum nitritation rate was showed at 30 $\circ $C. The effect of DO concentration was negligible at more than 3 mg/L.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.77-81
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• 1997

Removal of nitrogen compound from waste water is essential and often accomplished by biological process. To prevent washout and to develop an efficient bioreactor, immobilization of sutibal microorganisms could be sensible approach. Strains and permeabilized cell encapsulated in cellulose nitrate microcapsules and immobilized on polystyrene films were prepared by the method described in the previous study. In the wastewater treatment system, nitrification of ammonia component is generally known as rate controlling step. To enhance the rate of nitrification, firstly nitrifying strains Nitrosomonas europaea(IFO14298), are permeabilized chemically, and immobilized on polystyrene films and secondly oxidation rates of strain system and permeabilized strain system are compared in the same condition. with 30 minute permeabilized cells, it took about 25 hours to oxidize 70% of ammonia in the solution, while it took about 40 hours to treat same amount of ammonia with untreated cells. All the immobilization procedures did not harm to the enzyme activity and no mass transfer resistance through the capsule well was shown. In the durability test of immobilized system, the system showed considerable activity for the repeated operation for 90 days. With these results, the system developed in this study showed the possibility to be used in the actual waste water treatment system.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.103-112
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• 2011

This study was carried out on 4 batch reactors to determine the specific ammonium oxidizing rate (SAOR), specific nitrate forming rate (SNFR) and inhibitory degree of nitrifying activities with saline concentrations. Under salt free condition ammonia was consumed during the reaction period within 200 min. When the salt level increased to 10, 20 and 30 g $NaClL^{-1}$ in reactor, ammonia depletion took 250, 300 and above 350 min, respectively. During concentration above 10 g $NaClL^{-1}$, there was nitrite accumulation. Also, at 30 g $NaClL^{-1}$ ammonia did not depleted and $NO_2{^-}$-N accumulated until the final reaction. Nitrate formation rates decreased with increasing salt concentration. SAOR and SNFR showed a decreasing trend as salinity concentrations were increased. The SAOR was reduced from 0.2 to 0.08 mg $NH_4{^+}$-N $g^{-1}VSS\;day^{-1}$ as the salt concentration increased from 0 to 30 g $NaClL^{-1}$. Similarly, the SNFR decreased from 0.26 kg $NO_3{^-}$-N $kg^{-1}VSS\;day^{-1}$ at saline free to 0.1 kg $NO_3{^-}$-N $kg^{-1}VSS\;day^{-1}$ at saline 30 g L-1. A severe inhibition of nitrifiers activity was observed at increased salt concentrations. The inhibition ratio of specific ammonium oxidation rates were 17, 47 and 60% on the reactor of 10, 20 and 30 g $NaClL^{-1}$ added, respectively. The inhibition ratio of specific nitrate forming rates also were inhibited 30, 53 and 62% on the reactor of 10, 20 and 30 g $NaClL^{-1}$ added, respectively. As the salinity concentrations increased from 0 to 30 mg $NaClL^{-1}$, the average MLSS concentration increased from 1,245 to 1,735 $mgL^{-1}$. The SS concentration of supernatant in reactor which settled about 30 minutes was not severely difference between concentration of salt free reactor and one of those high salt contained reactors.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.843-853
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• 2014

In the context of artificial groundwater recharge, a reactive soil column at pilot-scale (4.5 m depth and 3 m in diameter) fed by treated wastewater was designed to evaluate soil filtration ability. Here, as a part of this project, the impact of treated wastewater filtration on soil bacterial communities and the soil's biological ability for wastewater treatment as well as the relevance of the use of multi-bioindicators were studied as a function of depth and time. Biomass; bacterial 16S rRNA gene diversity fingerprints; potential nitrifying, denitrifying, and sulfate-reducing activities; and functional gene (amo, nir, nar, and dsr) detection were analyzed to highlight the real and potential microbial activity and diversity within the soil column. These bioindicators show that topsoil (0 to 20 cm depth) was the more active and the more impacted by treated wastewater filtration. Nitrification was the main activity in the pilot. No sulfate-reducing activity or dsr genes were detected during the first 6 months of wastewater application. Denitrification was also absent, but genes of denitrifying bacteria were detected, suggesting that the denitrifying process may occur rapidly if adequate chemical conditions are favored within the soil column. Results also underline that a dry period (20 days without any wastewater supply) significantly impacted soil bacterial diversity, leading to a decrease of enzyme activities and biomass. Finally, our work shows that treated wastewater filtration leads to a modification of the bacterial genetic and functional structures in topsoil.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.1265-1271
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• 2008

Aerated submerged bio-film (ASBF) pilot plant has been developed. The presented studies optimized an inexpensive method of enhanced wastewater treatment. The objectives of this research were to describe pilot scale experiments for efficient removal of dissolved organic and nitrogen compounds by using ASBF reactor in plug-flow reactor (PFR) and improve understanding of dissolved organic matter and nitrogen compounds removal rates with dynamic relationships between heterotrophs and autotrophs in the fixed-film reactor. This research explores the possibility of enhancing the performance of shallow wastewater treatment lagoons through the addition of specially designed structures. This direct gas-phase contact should increase the oxygen transfer rate into the bio-film, as well as increase the micro-climate mixing of water, nutrients, and waste products into and out of the bio-film. This research also investigated the efficiency of dissolved organic matter and ammonia nitrogen removals in the ASBF. As it was anticipated, nitrification activity was highest during periods when the flow rate was lower, but it seemed to decline during times when the flow rate was highest. And ammonia nitrogen removal rates were more sensitive than dissolved organic matter removal rates when flow rates exceeded 2.2 L/min.