Engineering Commons^™

Bio-Electrochemical Denitrification Systems And Applications For Nitrogen Removal In On-Site Wastewater Treatment, Kamal Ziad Taha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Denitrification experiments using biological cathodes (biocathodes) were conducted in three separate experiments. The first experiment was to observe whether the rate of denitrification in biocathodes could be increased with added ammonium at mass (mg/L) ratios of 0.100 (2.5/25), 0.05 (1.25/25), 0.0250 (0.625/25), and 0.0125 (0.3125/25) (parts ammonium to nitrate (NH4+-N/ NO3--N). The purpose of the ammonium present was to provide the microorganisms a starting nitrogen source for assimilation to biomass which, in theory, would encourage the removal of nitrate through dissimilatory denitrification. As mixed cultures were used, ratios tested were based on simplifying future operation of scaled-up biocathodes applied to …