Digital Commons Network^™

Methanotrophic Bacteria For Nutrient Removal From Wastewater: Attached Film System, William J. Jewell, Yarrow M. Nelson, Mark S. Wilson

Civil and Environmental Engineering

It was hypothesized that nutrient removal from wastewater could be achieved by using methane oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs). Because methane is inexpensive. it can be used as an energy source to encourage bacterial growth to assimilate nitrogen and phosphorus and other trace elements. This initial feasibility study used synthetic nutrient mixtures and secondary sewage effluent as feed to a laboratory-scale methanotrophic attached-film expanded bed (MAFEB) reactor operated at 35°C and 20°C. The MAFEB system operated successfully at low nutrient concentrations under a variety of nutrient-limited conditions. Using a synthetic nutrient mixture with a nitrogen:phosphorus feed ratio (w/w) …