Biological removal of ammonia and nitrate from simulated mine and mill effluents

Chemolithotrophic denitrification in biofilm reactors

“…If over-discharged, NO 3 À favors the eutrophication of receiving waters [4] and increases the risk of severe diseases such as methemoglobinemia [5]. Chemolithotrophic denitrification has recently gained increasing interest.…”

Biological nitrate removal from wastewater of a metal-finishing industry

“…Kasia et al [6] used an aerobic continuously stirred tank reactor for nitrification followed by upflow gravel packed column for denitrification applied to a wastewater generated by a metal refining company. They have obtained high ammonia removal efficiencies (up to 89%), but the nitrate removal (maximum 15% removal efficiency) did not meet the expectations previously projected by Koren et al [2] using synthetic wastewater. The failure of denitrification was explained on the basis of the used carbon source, a sewage that contained a variety of unknown substances including surfactants that could have inhibited the biological process.…”

“…In the last decade, studies on biological nitrogen removal using synthetic wastewater to simulate industrial discharges have been performed in order to evaluate the potential application of the nitrification-denitrification process to industrial wastewaters [2], but few studies focused on real industrial wastewater have been published in the metal-processing industry. Schuch et al [3] and Buchhesiter et al [4] wastewater streams from a metal working industry, obtaining that released ammonia from ethanolamines of the permeate in the denitrification stage could only be nitrified during aerobic treatment if it was co-treated together with a non-toxic wastewater stream from other sources in the factory.…”

Nitrogen uptake and cycling in Phragmites australis in a lake-receiving nutrient-rich mine water: a 15N tracer study

“…Elevated concentrations of phosphorus (P) in the mine effluent are mainly due to dissolution of apatite in apatite iron ore, chemicals used in the flotation process and sewage sludge used for mine waste remediation (Hansson 2006;Häyrynen et al 2008). Due to the role of nitrogen and phosphorus as nutrients, discharge of nutrient-rich mine water may result in eutrophication, with increased growth, changed species composition of phytoplankton and macrophytes, and oxygen deficiency in the receiving waters (Koren et al 2000;Mattila et al 2007;Galloway et al 2008). To mitigate the problem of eutrophication, it is of interest to find a suitable technique for the removal of these excess nutrients.…”