Investigation of nitrification characteristics of a nitrogenous industrial wastewater

Abstract

Treatment of wastewaters containing very high amounts of nitrogen is a problem for industries like the fertilizer industry. Up to date methods like air stripping or ion exchange can also be used in removal of nitrogen but they have certain disadvantages. The main purpose of this thesis was to present another known process used in nitrogen removal. The general concern of the study is to determine if nitrification process could tolerate industrial wastewaters containing high concentrations of nitrogen. In the beginning of the experimental part of the study, sludge previously acclimated to nitrification was introduced to increasing concentrations of ammonium nitrogen. In the second part of the study, wastewater from a fertilizer industry was used in order to detect the removal capacity of the system. Throughout the study effects of pH on the system and the system's tolerance was observed. Data obtained during the study proved that nitrification is a process that behaves according to the zero order kinetics. Finally, the results indicated that a nitrification process can surmount very high amounts of nitrogen if the environmental conditions are idealized.