Open AccessProtective Effect of Immobilized Ammonia Oxidizers and Phenol‐degrading Bacteria on Nitrification in Ammonia– and Phenol‐containing Wastewater
Author(s) -
Morita M.,
Kudo N.,
Uemoto H.,
Watanabe A.,
Shinozaki H.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
engineering in life sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1618-2863
pISSN - 1618-0240
DOI - 10.1002/elsc.200700014
Subject(s) - nitrosomonas europaea , phenol , wastewater , chemistry , nitrification , ammonia , activated sludge , nitrite , nitrosomonas , environmental chemistry , chromatography , organic chemistry , environmental engineering , nitrogen , environmental science , nitrate
Phenol present in wastewaters from various industries has an inhibitory effect on nitrification even at low concentrations. Hence, the biological treatment of wastewater containing both phenol and ammonia involves a series of treatment steps. It is difficult to achieve nitrification capability in an activated sludge system that contains phenol at concentrations above the inhibitory level. Batch treatment of wastewater containing various concentrations of phenol showed that the ammonia oxidation capability of suspended Nitrosomonas europaea cells, an ammonia oxidizer, was completely inhibited in the presence of more than 5.0 mg/L phenol. To protect the ammonia oxidizer from the inhibitory effect of phenol and to achieve ammonia oxidation capability in the wastewater containing phenol at concentrations above the inhibitory level, a simple bacterial consortium composed of an ammonia oxidizer ( N. europaea ) and a phenol‐degrading bacterial strain ( Acinetobacter sp.) was used. Ammonia oxidation did not occur in the presence of phenol at concentrations above the inhibitory level when suspended or immobilized N. europaea and Acinetobacter sp. cells were used in batch treatment. Following the acclimatization of the immobilized cells, accumulation of nitrite was observed, even when the wastewater contained phenol at concentrations above the inhibitory level. These results showed that immobilization was effective in protecting N. europaea cells from the inhibitory effect of phenol present in the wastewater.