Study on Characteristics in the Removal Process of Ammonia Nitrogen and Nitrate Nitrogen by an Isolated Heterotrophic Nitrification-Aerobic Denitrification Strain Rhodococcus Sp.

Weisi Li

Department of chemical engineering, China University of Petroleum, 266555, Qingdao, China.

DOI: 10.4236/jep.2013.41B014                

Abstract

Removal of ammonia nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen by an heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification strain is an economical and effective method. In this article, a kind of heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification strain which has aerobic denitrification and heterotrophic nitrification ability was selected, and then was identified as rhodococcus sp. by 16S rRNA sequencing analysis and morphological observation. After that, carbon source utilization and nitrification- denitrification activity of this strain in different C/N, initial nitrogen concentration were studied. In addition, the assimilation and denitrification activities of ammonia and nitrate were also researched under the condition of nitrate and ammonia coexisted in the solution. The results show that the strain can grow in sodium acetate, glucose, sodium succinate and sodium citrate solutions, and it can not survive in sodium oxalate, sucrose and soluble starch solutions. Initial concentration and C/N were important for nitrogen removal rate. This strain can completely remove nitrate/ammonia when nitrate/ammonia concentration was lower than 15 mg l-1/80 mg l-1. the C/N of 10 and of 12 were the optimum C/N ratio in the nitrate and ammonia removal process respectively. pH value rose up sharply in the denitrification process and it increased relatively slowly in the nitrification process, which shows that pH is one of the most important factor inhibiting the denitrification removal process. Nitrite concentration was much higher in denitrification process than in nitrification process. In addition, this strain gave priority to utilizing ammonia as nitrogen source when ammonia and nitrate coexisted in the solution.

Keywords

Aerobic denitrification; Heterotrophic nitrification; Rhodococcus sp.; Nitrogen removal

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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