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Effect of Chlorella sorokiniana on the biological denitrification of drinking water

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 22, pages 5171–5183 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

The influence of Chlorella sorokiniana on drinking water’s biological denitrification was studied at two different initial nitrate concentrations, 50 and 100 mg/L, respectively. Sucrose and grape juice were used as carbon sources. The experiments showed that the denitrification process in the presence of algae was, even at low concentrations, i.e. 50 mg/L of nitrate, slower than without them, but yet still more than 95 % of nitrate was removed in 24 h. It was also discovered that, with the addition of ammonium and urea, the urea interfered much more with the denitrification process, as less than 50 % of the initial nitrate was removed. However, algae did not contribute to the nitrate and ammonium removals, as the final concentrations of both in the presence of algae were higher by approx 5 %. At 100 mg/L of initial nitrate, the denitrification kinetics in the presence of algae was apparently slower regarding those experiments at lower levels of nitrate and only 65–70 % of nitrate was removed over 24 h. Using grape juice instead of sucrose improved the nitrate removal slightly.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the Slovenian Research Agency for the financial support (Project No. 1000-11-310131).

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  1. Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, 2000, Maribor, Slovenia

    Aleksandra Petrovič & Marjana Simonič

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  1. Aleksandra Petrovič
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  2. Marjana Simonič
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Correspondence to Aleksandra Petrovič.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Petrovič, A., Simonič, M. Effect of Chlorella sorokiniana on the biological denitrification of drinking water. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 5171–5183 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3745-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3745-3

Keywords

  • Algae
  • Ammonium
  • Chlorella sorokiniana
  • Denitrification
  • Drinking water
  • Kinetics