The behavior of nitrifying sludge in presence of sulfur compounds using a floating biofilm reactor

Inhibitory effect of sulfide on the nitrifying respiratory process

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that IC 50 values have been determined for both ammonium and nitrite oxidizing processes with suspended nitrifying biomass, physiologically stable. Beristain‐Cardoso et al . have previously reported an IC 50 value of 13 mg S 2‐ L –1 for ammonium oxidation, five times higher than the IC 50 found in the present work.…”

“…have previously reported an IC 50 value of 13 mg S 2‐ L –1 for ammonium oxidation, five times higher than the IC 50 found in the present work. In the study of Beristain‐Cardoso et al . the use of a nitrifying biofilm previously fed with thiosulfate in a continuous reactor and showing the metabolic capacity for oxidizing thiosulfate and sulfide to sulfate might explain the higher tolerance of the sludge to sulfide.…”

“…In suspended nitrifying cultures, sulfide might affect differently AMO, HAO and NOR activities. In biofilm nitrifying cultures, Beristain‐Cardoso et al . suggested that the elemental sulfur formed by partial oxidation of sulfide might decrease nitrite transport within the biofilm.…”

Treatment of produced water in a floating carrier bioreactor

“…The shape, size and nature of carrier material can influence system performance. High organic matter degradation has been reported with several conventional biofilm carrier materials such as sponge [31], bio-balls [32], kaldness [33] and schists [34]. Khoshfetrat et al [35] achieved a COD removal of about 90% using 1,372 pieces of polypropylene support materials in a submerged fixed-film bioreactor treating synthetic wastewater.…”

Nitrification of industrial and domestic saline wastewaters in moving bed biofilm reactor and sequencing batch reactor

“…Sulfur-containing compounds are also some of the most powerful inhibitors of the nitrification process; they can act as metal-chelating compounds, inhibiting enzymes that require metals for activation [30]. Some works reported the substantially effect of sulfur compounds on nitrification, like allylsulfide [5], sulfide [31], dimethylsulfide, dimethyldisulfide and ethanethiol [32].…”