• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.4B
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• pp.421-426
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• 2006

The effect of initial concentration of ammonium ion ($N_0$) and active nitrifiers ($X_0$) on nitrification was examined by continuous monitoring of the ammonium removal rate. The concentration of the active nitrifiers in the culture sludge, measured by the oxygen uptake rate (OUR), was found to be 42.8% of the culture sludge. Experiments were carried out under different ratios of $N_0/X_0$, viz., 0.025 to 0.493. The results from this study show that the oxidation rate was similar under the same $N_0/X_0$ ratio despite different initial concentration of ammonium ion ($N_0$) and active nitrifiers ($X_0$). Moreover, the Contois kinetic expression which includes biomass concentration, was found to describe the mechanism behind nitrification process. The ammonium oxidation rate ($q_{Nmax}$) and half saturation constant per unit activated nitrifiers ($K_N{^{\prime}}$) were theoretically determined using the Contois expression. These values were found to be 4.32 gN/gVSS/day and 0.013 gN/gVSS respectively.