Abstract
Denitrification of synthetic high nitrate wastewater containing 40,000 ppm NO3 (9,032 ppm NO3-N) was achieved using immobilized activated sludge in a column reactor. Active anoxic sludge adsorbed onto Terry cloth was used in the denitrification of high nitrate wastewater. The operational stability of the immobilized sludge system was studied both in a batch reactor and in a continuous reactor. The immobilized sludge showed complete degradation of different concentrations of NO3-N (1,129, 1,693, 3,387, 6,774, and 9,032 ppm) in a batch process. The reactors were successfully run for 90 days without any loss in activity. The immobilized cell process has yielded promising results in attaining high denitrifying efficiency.
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The authors thank the Department of Atomic Energy (India) for funding this work, and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mumbai (India) for providing the sludge.
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Nair, R.R., D’Souza, S.F. Denitrification of high nitrate wastewater in a cloth strip bioreactor with immobilized sludge. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 39, 1637–1643 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-012-1175-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-012-1175-0