High nitrite is a known operation parameter to inhibit the biological oxidation of nitrite to nitrate. The phenomenon is traditionally expressed using a Monod-type equation with non-competitive inhibition, in which the reaction associated with the biomass growth is reduced when high nitrite is present. On the other hand, very high nitrite is also known to slay nitrifiers. To clarify the difference between the growth inhibition and the poisoning, cell counting for living microorganisms in the nitrite oxidiser-enriched activated sludge was conducted in batch conditions under various nitrite concentrations together with measurements of biomass chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration and oxygen uptake rate. The experiments demonstrated that these measureable parameters were all decayed when nitrite concentration exceeded 100-500 mgN/L at pH 7.0 in the system, indicating that nitrite poisoning took place. Biomass growth was recognised in lower range of nitrite which was expressed with growth inhibition only. Based on the response, a kinetic model for the biological nitrite oxidation was developed with a modification of IWA ASM1. The model was further utilised to calculate a possibility to wash out nitrite oxidiser in the aeration tank where a part of the return activated sludge was exposed to high nitrite liquor in a side-stream partial nitritation reactor.

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the potential negative effects of rice husk as a source of fertilizer on plant growth. Methods Growth tests were conducted on komatsuna (Brassica rapa var. perviridis) using three types of experiment. A pot experiment was conducted to compare different fertilizers on an individual basis. A second pot experiment was conducted to compare different mixtures of fertilizers. Finally, a field experiment was performed to determine the effects of the application of different quantities of silica. Results The results showed that komatsuna grew better with the application of silica mixed with fertilizer, and that there was an optimal quantity of silica to be used, when used on its own. It was found that, in all cases, the silica in the rice husk ash did not have any measurable negative effects on the growth of the komatsuna. Conclusions We, therefore, conclude that rice husk silica can undoubtedly be used for plant cultivation.

In Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, lakes and rivers are polluted by both point pollution sources such as discharge from sewerage system; and by non-point pollution sources such as washoff from land surface and leakage from septic tanks. Several studies had mentioned about water pollution but were mainly focusing on organic pollution, feacal contamination and pollutant sources from surface runoff were not considered. To investigate the characteristics of pollutant variation in runoff water and feacal contamination by pathogenic indicators, water samples were collected in August and September 2008, by the roadside and at the inflows of lakes under wet weather condition in the downtown of Hanoi. Monitoring results showed high pollutant concentration, especially pathogenic indicators as E.coli and total coliform (TC), both in road runoff and water that flowed into lakes. Runoff water quality was much different depending on the sampling locations and patterns of rainfall. Pollutant concentration collected by the roadside tend to increase at the end of rainfall. It might be attributed to the discharge of domestic wastewater from individual households or leakage from septic systems. Time and spatial variation were much different for each event that made urban runoff water to be more difficult to control in comparison with domestic wastewater. Cluster analysis was applied to find the similarities of water quality among sampling locations. It was a useful method to find the spatial variation of pollutants and their level of pollution.

Allylthiourea is a known specific inhibitor for ammonium oxidiser to suppress its oxygen uptake, and is commonly used for various kinds of batch respirometric tests to detect heterotrophic respiration in activated sludge. However, when high heterotrophs were present in the sample, it appeared the inhibitor was noticeably degraded and reached below the inhibition threshold after a couple of days, which resulted in overestimation of the heterotrophic respiration. The biological decomposition of the inhibitor was expressed with a Monod-type rate expression having a half-saturation coefficient of 980 mg-COD/L and maximum specific growth rate of 1.0 d. The developed kinetic model, including the growth and decay of the heterotrophs and nitrifiers, indicated that the ATU with about 90 mg-ATU/L which was initially dosed to the system would reach below the inhibition threshold of 1.0 mg-ATU/L after 10 days when 750 mg-COD/L of heterotrophs were present. From the kinetic model, an empirical formula to calculate a safe minimum ATU dose for the batch respirometric test was elaborated. The model also provided a modified experimental procedure to accurately estimate the initial heterotrophic biomass concentration in the sample and its specific decay rate based on IWA Activated Sludge Models.

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