Engineering biological nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment via the control of nitrite oxidising bacteria using free nitrous acid

Abstract

Nitrogen compounds need to be removed or captured from wastewater streams before disposal to protect our aquatic environments from eutrophication. Particular bacteria facilitating the biological removal of nitrogen during waste-water treatment include ammonia oxidising bacteria (AOB), nitrite oxidising bacteria (NOB), denitrifiers, as well as anaerobic ammonium oxidising (Anammox) bacteria. Manipulating these microbial communities can improve efficiency in nitrogen removal. Bypassing nitrate production by selectively inhibiting NOB reduces the need for oxygen and the addition of external carbon for the nitrogen removal. Various approaches to selectively inhibit NOB in the nitrification process are available. Here we present an approach using the biocide, free nitrous acid (FNA) to selectively suppress NOB growth thereby improving the efficiency of the nitrogen removal process.