Title: Study on the kinetics of NH3 removal from air by Nitrosomonas europaea

Authors: Jahir Bin Alam, A. Hasan, A.H. Pathan, Sunil Kumar, Ajay Bharti

Addresses: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh. ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh. ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh. ' National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Kolkata, India. ' North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Abstract: In this paper, an attempt has been made to examine the feasibility of wood charcoal as a biofilter medium. The microorganism Nitrosomonas europaea has been utilised to remove ammonia in a continuous reactor. A maximum specific growth rate of 0.0565 h−1 was obtained for N. europaea in anaerobic environment using nitrate as electron acceptor. The slope of the graph between the maximum concentration of biomass and the nitrate concentration gave the growth yield (yield coefficient) for bacteria. The growth yield of N. europaea using nitrate as electron acceptor was found to be 1.67 and 92.67% removal of ammonia gas was found within seven days by wood charcoal-based biofilter.

Keywords: biofiltration; recovery; air pollution control; surface loading; HRT; hydraulic retention time; volumetric loading; wood charcoal; biofilters; bioremdiation; microorganisms; Nitrosomonas europaea; ammonia removal; biomass; nitrate concentration; ammonia gas; kinetics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2010.035912

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2010 Vol.43 No.1/2/3, pp.42 - 51

Published online: 09 Oct 2010 *

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