Temporal variation in maximum cell-specific nitrification rate

2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (8) ◽  
pp. 2069-2073 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Fujita ◽  
K. Tsuji ◽  
A. Akashi

The cell numbers of ammonia-oxidising bacteria (AOBs), Nitrospira and Nitrobacter in activated sludge used to treat wastewater from a thermal power plant in Japan were examined for nine months using a real-time PCR quantification technique. AOB cell numbers ranged 2.8 × 1010–2.3 × 1011 cell/L. The amoA clone analysis showed that the only Nitrosomonas halophila was responsible for ammonia oxidation over the period. Nitrospira were in the range of 2.6 × 109–2.4 × 1010 cell/L and Nitrobacter were less than 1% as common as Nitrospira. Meanwhile, maximum nitrification rates, maximum ammonia- and nitrite-oxidation rates obtained from aerobic batch tests, ranged 0.5–1.3 mmol-N/L h and 1.0–2.5 mmol-N/L h, respectively. No clear correlations were observed between the cell numbers of AOBs or Nitrospira and their maximum rates, because the maximum cell-specific ammonia- and nitrite-oxidation rates varied remarkably over the ranges of 1.1–11.9 and 2.4–21.6 fmol-N/cell h, respectively. To explore the factors controlling maximum cell-specific nitrification rates, the relationship to influent nitrogen loads per AOB or Nitrospira cell numbers was investigated. Fairly good correlations were obtained. Considering the effluent ammonia and nitrite concentrations were zero and only Nitrosomonas halophila had a role in ammonia oxidation over the period, we conclude that the amount of nitrogen oxidised per AOB or Nitrospira cell numbers likely controls maximum cell-specific ammonia- or nitrite-oxidation rates, respectively.

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (10) ◽  
pp. 53-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shabbir H. Gheewala ◽  
Ajit P. Annachhatre

Discharge of aniline to the environment must be controlled as aniline is toxic to aquatic life and also exerts additional oxygen demand due to nitrification reaction involved during its biodegradation. Organic carbonaceous removal by heterotrophs during aniline biodegradation releases NH4+ which is the substrate for autotrophic nitrifying bacteria. However, aniline is toxic to nitrifying bacteria and severely inhibits their activity. Accordingly, batch and continuous studies were conducted to assess the biodegradation of aniline and its inhibitory effect on nitrification. Synthetic wastewater was used as feed with aniline as sole carbon source for mixed microbial population. Experiments were conducted at ambient temperatures of 30–32°C. An aerobic activated sludge Unit was operated at an HRT of about 13 hours and SRT of about 12 days. Biomass from aerobic activated sludge process treating domestic wastewater was acclimatized to synthetic wastewater Containing aniline. Removal efficiencies more than 95% were obtained for feed aniline concentrations upto 350 mg/l with insignificant inhibition of nitrification due to aniline. Ammonia oxidation rates of about 20–115 mgNH4N/l/d were observed. Batch tests were carried out to test the inhibitory effects of high initial aniline concentrations on nitritication. Carbonaceous removal by heterotrophs proceeded rapidly within 4–6 hours with nitrification picking up as soon as aniline concentration dropped below 3–4 mg/l. For higher initial aniline concentration more than 250 mg/l, complete nitrification did not take place even after aniline Concentration dropped below 3–4 mg/l.


1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (9) ◽  
pp. 1639-1648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serge Parent ◽  
Antoine Morin

Large populations of copepod-dominated meiofauna are found in the sand filters of the St. Lawrence marine mesocosm at the Montreal Biodome. Experiments were conducted in heterotrophic microcosms to quantify how populations of micro- and meiofaunal organisms affect ammonia oxidation (nitrition) and nitrite oxidation (nitration) using apparent nitrition rate (ANiR) and apparent nitration rate (ANaR) as proxies. ANiR and ANaR were not related to ciliate density. Meiofauna had no effect on ANiR, but a significant relationship between ANaR and meiofaunal biomass was observed, which varied with the particulate organic nitrogen (PON) content of the sediment. The relationship was negative at low PON and positive at high PON. These results suggest a direct negative action by predation on nitrifying bacteria and an indirect positive action by reducing competitors through grazing of heterotroph bacteria. The negative effect of 1 g meiofauna·m-2 at low PON (-20% of ANaR0, i.e., ANaR without meiofauna) is much smaller than its positive effect at high PON (+172 to +571% of ANaR0). Copepod-dominated meiofaunal biomasses less than 0.16 g·m-2 increase two to five times the nitrification rate in heterotrophic habitats rich in PON.


2005 ◽  
Vol 71 (10) ◽  
pp. 6325-6334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gulnur Coskuner ◽  
Stuart J. Ballinger ◽  
Russell J. Davenport ◽  
Rheanne L. Pickering ◽  
Rosario Solera ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) are of vital importance to wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), as well as being an intriguing group of microorganisms in their own right. To date, corroboration of quantitative measurements of AOB by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has relied on assessment of the ammonia oxidation rate per cell, relative to published values for cultured AOB. Validation of cell counts on the basis of substrate transformation rates is problematic, however, because published cell-specific ammonia oxidation rates vary by over two orders of magnitude. We present a method that uses FISH in conjunction with confocal scanning laser microscopy to quantify AOB in WWTP, where AOB are typically observed as microcolonies. The method is comparatively simple, requiring neither detailed cell counts or image analysis, and yet it can give estimates of either cell numbers or biomass. Microcolony volume and diameter were found to have a log-normal distribution. We were able to show that virtually all (>96%) of the AOB biomass occurred as microcolonies. Counts of microcolony abundance and measurement of their diameter coupled with a calibration of microcolony dimensions against cell numbers or AOB biomass were used to determine AOB cell numbers and biomass in WWTP. Cell-specific ammonia oxidation rates varied between plants by over three orders of magnitude, suggesting that cell-specific ammonia oxidation is an important process variable. Moreover, when measured AOB biomass was compared with process-based estimates of AOB biomass, the two values were in agreement.


1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Sinkjær ◽  
L. Yndgaard ◽  
P. Harremoës ◽  
J. L. Hansen

Pilot plant experiments have been performed over a period of four years in order to establish an experimental basis for the upgrading of the treatment plants of the city of Copenhagen to nitrogen removal. The design chosen is based on the alternating mode of operation. Nitrification rates have been determined in batch tests on activated sludge extracted from the pilot plants and through the measuring of transient concentrations during the alternating mode of operation in the aerobic reactor. The data have been nonnalised to standard conditions by correcting them according to the kinetic theory. By monitoring the normalised nitrification rate it could be established that the nitrification process was occasionally inhibited. The aerobic sludge age required to maintain nitrification has been estimated. A specific evaluation has been made of the sensitivity of the required sludge age to the oxygen concentration and temperature.


1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 433-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lalit K. Agrawal ◽  
Yasuhiro Ohashi ◽  
Etsuo Mochida ◽  
Hiroyuki Okui ◽  
Yasuko Ueki ◽  
...  

The treatability of raw sewage in a temperate climate (wintertime around 10–20°C) using an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor and the hanging sponge cubes process was evaluated. After being seeded with digested sewage sludge, a 47.1 L UASB reactor was continuously operated for more than 2 years by feeding raw sewage, which had average COD around 300 mg/L (41% soluble). During summertime at an HRT of 7 h, effluent COD approximately 70 mg/L total, 50 mg/L soluble and BOD5 20 mg/L total, 12 mg/L soluble was obtained. During wintertime also, treatment efficiency and process stability was good. With the hanging sponge cubes process using the effluent of the UASB reactor treating raw sewage, the following results were obtained. The ammonia oxidation rates of 1.9 and 3.5 g NH4-N·m−2·d−1 in a downflow hanging sponge cubes biofilter, under natural air intake only were obtained during wintertime and summertime, respectively. With post-denitrification and an external carbon source, 84% in average N (NO3+NO2) was removed with an HRT of less than 1 hour and in the temperature range of 13 to 30°C using an upflow submerged hanging sponge bed bioreactor, under anaerobic conditions. The overall system using a UASB reactor and the hanging sponge cubes process could be quite an attractive treatment alternative.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Nina Xu ◽  
Yanhua Wu ◽  
Li Wei Zheng ◽  
Zhenzhen Zheng ◽  
Huade Zhao ◽  
...  

Abstract. The general features of the N cycle in the sunlit ocean are known, but quantitative information about multiple transformation rates among nitrogen pools, i.e., ammonium (NH4+), nitrite (NO2−), nitrate (NO3−) and particulate/dissolved organic nitrogen (PN/DON), are limited due to methodological difficulties. By adding a single 15N-labelled NH4+ tracer into incubators, we monitor ed the changes in concentration and isotopic composition of the total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), PN, NH4+, NO2−, and NO3− pools to trace the 15N and 14N flows. Based on mass conservation and isotope mass balance, we formulate d a matrix equation that allow edus to simultaneously derive the rates of multiple transformation processes in the nitrogen reaction web . We abandoned inhibitors and minimized the alteration of the system by adding a limited amount of tracer. In one single incubation, solution of the matrix equation provided the rates of NH4+, NO2−, and NO3− uptake; ammonia oxidation; nitrite oxidation; nitrite excretion; DON release; and potentially, the remineralization rate. To our knowledge, this is the first and most convenient method designed to quantitatively and simultaneously resolve complicated nitrogen transformation rates, albeit with some uncertainties. Field examples are given, and c omparisons with conventional labeling methods are discussed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 7395-7410 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Santoro ◽  
C. M. Sakamoto ◽  
J. M. Smith ◽  
J. N. Plant ◽  
A. L. Gehman ◽  
...  

Abstract. Nitrite (NO2−) is a substrate for both oxidative and reductive microbial metabolism. NO2− accumulates at the base of the euphotic zone in oxygenated, stratified open-ocean water columns, forming a feature known as the primary nitrite maximum (PNM). Potential pathways of NO2− production include the oxidation of ammonia (NH3) by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea as well as assimilatory nitrate (NO3−) reduction by phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria. Measurements of NH3 oxidation and NO3− reduction to NO2− were conducted at two stations in the central California Current in the eastern North Pacific to determine the relative contributions of these processes to NO2− production in the PNM. Sensitive (< 10 nmol L−1), precise measurements of [NH4+] and [NO2−] indicated a persistent NH4+ maximum overlying the PNM at every station, with concentrations as high as 1.5 μmol L−1. Within and just below the PNM, NH3 oxidation was the dominant NO2− producing process, with rates of NH3 oxidation to NO2− of up to 31 nmol L−1 d−1, coinciding with high abundances of ammonia-oxidizing archaea. Though little NO2− production from NO3− was detected, potentially nitrate-reducing phytoplankton (photosynthetic picoeukaryotes, Synechococcus, and Prochlorococcus) were present at the depth of the PNM. Rates of NO2− production from NO3− were highest within the upper mixed layer (4.6 nmol L−1 d−1) but were either below detection limits or 10 times lower than NH3 oxidation rates around the PNM. One-dimensional modeling of water column NO2− production agreed with production determined from 15N bottle incubations within the PNM, but a modeled net biological sink for NO2− just below the PNM was not captured in the incubations. Residence time estimates of NO2− within the PNM ranged from 18 to 470 days at the mesotrophic station and was 40 days at the oligotrophic station. Our results suggest the PNM is a dynamic, rather than relict, feature with a source term dominated by ammonia oxidation.


1992 ◽  
Vol 55 (8) ◽  
pp. 574-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
NING CHEN ◽  
LEORA A. SHELEF

The relationship between water activity (aw), lactate, and growth of Listeria monocytogenes strain Scott A was studied in a meat model system consisting of cooked strained beef ranging in moisture content from 25 to 85% (wt/wt). Lactate (4%) depressed meat aw, and differences between aw values in control and lactate-treated samples at each moisture level increased progressively with decrease in moisture, from 0.003 (85% moisture) to 0.046 (25% moisture). Maximum cell numbers per g in control samples stored at 20°C for 7 d were about 109 (45–85% moisture, aw= 0.981–0.994) and 107 (35% moisture, aw = 0.965); there was no growth in meat with 25% moisture (aw = 0.932). Sodium lactate (4%) suppressed listerial growth at &gt;55% and inhibited growth in samples with 25–55% moisture (a &lt; 0.964). Lactate concentrations less than 4% were not listeristatic, but combinations of 2 or 3% lactate with 2% NaCl in samples with 55% moisture inhibited growth. Potassium and calcium lactate were as effective as the sodium salt in suppressing growth and aw.


2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (7) ◽  
pp. 1736-1743 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Stenström ◽  
J. la Cour Jansen

Bioaugmentation of nitrifiers from a side-stream treatment is an efficient method for boosting the mainstream process at a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Although this technology has been known for several years, the number of full-scale applications for it is limited. For a WWTP approaching its critical nitrogen load capacity, the benefits are doubled if the introduced side-stream treatment for digester supernatant is combined with bioaugmentation. Not only is the nitrogen load to the mainstream process decreased by 10–25%, but the mainstream process is also boosted with nitrifiers, increasing the nitrifying capacity. In this full-scale study, the increment of the nitrification rate is examined in the mainstream process at different temperatures and at different flow rates of returned activated sludge to the side-stream treatment. Our results show that the nitrification rate in the mainstream process was increased by 41% during the coldest period of the study, implying that the examined WWTP could treat considerably higher nitrogen loads if bioaugmentation were permanently installed.


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