• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.73-80
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• 2010

Two nitrite oxidizing bacteria, NOB1 and NOB2, were isolated from anaerobic digester liquer of food wastewater and analyzed for their growth characteristics and the ability to oxidize nitrite under different temperature, pH, and DO( dissolved oxygen) concentrations. Both of the isolated strains have shown the best growth at pH 7.0 and at $35^{\circ}C$, and also shown higher growth rate with the increasing dissolved oxygen concentrations. As the factors to restrict the growth of these strains, parameters such as pH and DO were found to be effective ones, by increasing (up to 9.0) or decreasing pH (up to 5.0), or lowing DO below 1.0 ppm. Especially, the ability to oxidize nitrite in both strains was about 50% lower in below 1.0 ppm of DO than above of 1.0 ppm. NOB2 was found to be two times greater in both the growth rate and the nitrite-oxidizing ability than NOB1.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.125-130
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• 2008

Free ammonia ($NH_3$-N) inhibition of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) has been widely studied for partial nitrification (or nitrite accumulation) and denitrification via nitrite ($NO_2^-$-N) as a low-cost treatment of ammonium containing wastewater. The literature on $NH_3$-N inhibition of NOB, however, shows disagreement about the threshold $NH_3$-N concentration and its degree of inhibition. In order to clarify the confusion, a simple and cheap respirometric method was devised to investigate the effect of free ammonia inhibition of NOB. Sludge samples from an autotrophic nitrifying reactor were exposed to various $NH_3$-N concentrations to measure the maximum specific nitrite oxidation rate ($\hat{K}_{NO}$) using a respirometer. NOB biomass was estimated from the yield values in the literature. Free ammonia inhibition of nitrite oxidizing bacteria was reversible and the specific nitrite oxidation rate ($K_{NO}$) decreased from 0.141 to 0.116, 0.100, 0.097 and 0.081 mg $NO_2^-$-N/mg NOB h, respectively, as the $NH_3$-N concentration increased from 0.0 to 1.0, 4.1, 9.7 and 22.9 mg/L. A nonlinear regression based on the noncompetitive inhibition mode gave an estimate of the Inhibition concentration ($K_I$) of free ammonia to be 21.3 mg $NH_3$-N/L. Previous studies gave $\hat{K}_{NO}$ of Nitrobacter and Nitrospira as 0.120 and 0.032 mg/mg VSS h. The free ammonia concentration which inhibits Nitrobacter was $30{\sim}50\;mg$ $NH_3$-N/L and Nitrospira was inhibited at $0.04{\sim}0.08\;mg$ $NH_3$-N/L. The results support the fact that Nitrobacter is the dominant NOB in the reactor. The variations in the reported values of free ammonia inhibition may be due to the different species of nitrite oxidizers present in the reactors. The respirometric method provides rapid and reliable analysis of the behavior and community of the nitrite oxidizing bacteria.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1024-1030
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• 2006

Genus Nitrospira and Nitrobacter species are the key nitrite-oxidizing bacteria(NOB) in nitrifying wastewater treatment plants. It has been hypothesized that genus Nitrospira are K-strategists(low $K_6$ value) that can exploit low amounts of nitrite more efficiently than Nitrobacter. In contrast, Nitrobacter species are r-strategists(high $V_{max}$) that can grow faster than Nitrospira. It has also been known that the availability of organic compounds and dissolved oxygen as well as nitrite affects the distribution of NOB. In this study, we determined the distribution and competition of NOB in wastewater nitrification systems where nitrite, organic compounds, and dissolved oxygen concentrations were compositively varied. For the purpose, several compounds of the laboratory-scale nitrificaiion bioreactor and full-scale $A_2O$ wastewater treatment plant and their distribution of NOB were analyzed and compared. The analysis showed that Nitrobacter was the dominant NOB in nitrification bioreactor where average nitrite was maintained at 5 mg-N/L with very low organic concentration in aerobic condition, whereas Nitrospira was the dominant NOB in full-scale $A_2O$ plant where nitrite was maintained very low and organic compounds were maintained relatively high in alternating aerobic-anoxic condition. The result indicates that nitrite concentration is more critical factor than organics and dissolved oxygen which determines the dominant NOB in nitrification system and it is confirmed that Nitrospira and Nitrobacter showed the characteristics of r-strategist and K-strategist, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1455-1462
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• 2012

The vertical distributions of nitrifying bacteria in aerobic fixed biofilm were investigated to evaluate the relationship between nitrification performance and microbial community at different HRT. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and portable ion selective microelectrode system were adopted to analyze microbial communities and ions profiles according to the biofilm depth. Cilia media packed MLE (Modified Ludzack-Ettinger) like reactor composed of anoxic, aerobic I/II was operated with synthetic wastewater having COD 200 mg/L and $NH_4{^+}$-N mg/L at HRT of 6 hrs and 4 hrs. Total biofilm thickness of aerobic I, II reactor at 4 hrs condition was over two times than that of 6 hrs condition due to the sufficient substrate supply at 4 hrs condition (6 hrs; aerobic I 380 ${\mu}m$ and II 400 ${\mu}m$, 4 hrs; aerobic I 830 ${\mu}m$ and II 1040 ${\mu}m$). As deepen the biofilm detection point, the ratio of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) was decreased while the ratio of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) was maintained similar distribution at both HRT condition. The ratio of AOB was higher at 4 hrs than 6 hrs condition and $NH_4{^+}$-N removal efficiency was also higher at 4 hrs with 89.2% than 65.4% of 6 hrs. However, the ratio of NOB was decreased when HRT was reduced from 6 hrs to 4 hrs and $NO_2{^-}$-N accumulation was observed at 4 hrs condition. Therefore, it is considered that insufficient HRT condition could supply sufficient substrate and enrichment of AOB in all depth of fixed biofilm but cause decrease of NOB and nitrite accumulation.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2008

Nitrogen is one of the major pollutants that should be removed by wastewater treatment systems. Biological nitrogen removal (BNR) is a key technology in advanced wastewater treatment systems operated by bacterial populations. Nitrification is the first step of microbiological processes in BNR system. Ammonia is oxidized to nitrite by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and then nitrite is subsequently oxidized to nitrate by nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). The diversity of NOB in nitrification reactors of 3 BNR systems, Edited biological aerated filter system, Nutrient removal laboratory system, and the Rumination type sequencing batch reactor system, was investigated by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of 16S rRNA genes. Cluster analysis of T-RF profiles showed that communities of Nitrobacter group in each system were different depending upon the process of systems. However, the clusters of Nitrospira group were divided by the habitat of aqueous and solid samples.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1470-1474
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• 2008

Nitrospira is a dominant member of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) in nitrifying bioreactors as well as in natural habitats. In this study, Nitrospira NOB were investigated in the two nitrifying reactors operated with high and low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations for a period of 300 days. Phylogenetic and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses based on 168 rRNA gene sequences revealed that the Nitrospira community compositions of the two reactors during the early period related to group 1 and half of the Nitrospira community composition shifted to group 2 in the high-DO reactor after day 179, although there was no significant change in the low-DO reactor. These results suggested that DO was an important factor affecting Nitrospira community compositions in the nitrifying reactors.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.171-176
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• 2022

Recently, an autotrophic single-stage nitrogen removal (ASSNR) process based on the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX) reaction has been proven as an economical ammonia treatment. It is highly evident that double-layered gel beads are a promising alternative to the natural biofilm for ASSNR because of the high mechanical strength of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/alginate structure and efficient protection of ANAMMOX bacteria from dissolved oxygen (DO) due to the thick outer layer. However, the thick outer layer results in severe mass transport limitation and consequent lowered bacterial activity. Therefore, the effects of the thickness of the outer layer on the overall reaction rate were tested in the biofilm model using AQUASIM for ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and ANAMMOX bacteria. A thickness of 0.5~1.0 mm is preferred for the maximum total nitrogen (TN) removal. In addition, a DO of 0.5 mg/L resulted in the best total nitrogen removal. A higher DO induces NOB activity and consequent lower TN removal efficiency. The optimal density of AO B and NO B density was 1~10% for a 10% ANAMMOX bacterial in the double-layered PVA/alginate gel beads. The real effects of operating parameters of the thickness of the outer layer, DO and concentrations of biomass balance should be intensively investigated in the controlled experiments in batch and continuous modes.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.920-926
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• 2007

The upflow Biobead$^{(R)}$ process, one of biological aerated filters (BAF), which was used commercially, invented for removal of organic materials and nitrification. This process was modified to enhance the ability of denitrification through the induction of pre-anoxic tank. In this research, we investigated the effects of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and backwashing period in aerobic tank. The characteristics of nitrifying bacteria, which are composed of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), also investigated using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Even though the HRT was shortened, the efficiency of nitrification was not decreased when the organic loading rate and ammonium-nitrogen loading rate were $2.10kg/m^3/day$ and $0.25kg/m^3/day$, respectively. And then the distribution ratios of AOB and NOB showed the similar patterns. However, when the backwashing period was lengthened from 12 hours to 24 hours in aerobic 1 tank, the nitrification efficiency was decreased to 63.9% from 89.2%. The results of FISH explained that this decrease of nitrification efficiency was caused by the decrease of distribution ratio of AOB in aerobic 1 tank. The nitrification efficiencies of aerobic 1 and aerobic 2 tank were increased when the backwashing period was lengthened because of relative high distribution ratios of nitrifying bacteria.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1168-1177
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• 2018

The aim of this study was to investigate the microbial community of three tannery wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) involved in nitrification by Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The results showed that highly diverse communities were present in tannery wastewater. A total of six phyla, including Proteobacteria (37-41%), Bacteroidetes (6.04-16.80), Planctomycetes (3.65-16.55), Chloroflexi (2.51-11.48), Actinobacteria (1.91-9.21), and Acidobacteria (3.04-6.20), were identified as the main phyla, and Proteobacteria dominated in all the samples. Within Proteobacteria, Beta-proteobacteria was the most abundant class, with the sequence percentages ranging from 9.66% to 17.44%. Analysis of the community at the genus level suggested that Thauera, Gp4, Ignavibacterium, Phycisphaera, and Arenimonas were the core genera shared by at least two tannery WWTPs. A detailed analysis of the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) indicated that Nitrosospira, Nitrosomonas, and Nitrospira were the main AOB and NOB in tannery wastewater, respectively, which exhibited relatively high abundance in all samples. In addition, real-time quantitative PCR was conducted to validate the results by quantifying the abundance of the AOB and total bacteria, and similar results were obtained. Overall, the results presented in this study may provide new insights into our understanding of key microorganisms and the entire community of tannery wastewater and contribute to improving the nitrogen removal efficiency.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.541-547
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• 2023

The effect of temperature and influent alkalinity/ammonia (K/A) ratio on the start-up of the partial nitrification (PN) process for an activated sludge-based domestic wastewater treatment was studied. Two different sequence batch reactors (SBR) were operated at 26 ℃ and 32 ℃. The relationship between temperature and the concentration of free ammonia (FA) and free acid nitrite (FNA) was investigated. A stable PN process was achieved in the 32 ℃ reactor when the influent ammonium concentration was lower than 150 mg-N/L. In contrast, the PN process in the 26 ℃ reactor had a higher nitrite accumulation rate (NAR) and ammonium removal efficiency (ARE) when the influent ammonia concentration was increased to more than 150 mg-N/L. Then three different ranges of the K/A ratio were applied to an SBR reactor. In the K/A range of 2.48~1.65, the SBR reactor achieved the highest NAR ratio (75.78%). This ratio helps to achieve the appropriate level of alkalinity to maintain a stable pH and provide a sufficient amount of inorganic carbon source for the activity of microorganisms. At the same time, FA and FNA values also reached the threshold to inhibit nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) without a significant effect on ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). Results showed that the control of temperature and K/A ratio during the start-up period may be important in establishing a stable and steady PN process for the treatment of domestic wastewater.