TY - JOUR
T1 - Efficient ammonia removal from wastewater by a microbial biofilm in tuff-based intermittent biofilters
AU - Sabbah, I.
AU - Baransi, K.
AU - Massalha, N.
AU - Dawas, A.
AU - Saadi, I.
AU - Nejidat, A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for the financial support under project agreement FKZ 02WM0845. They also thank Mrs. Majida Bana-Jeries for her help in the experimental work.
PY - 2013/4
Y1 - 2013/4
N2 - The aim of this study was to investigate the potential use of tuff as a matrix for ammonia removal in an intermittent flow biofilter (IBF) compared to sand. Sand and tuff filters were characterized regarding their respective total biofilm microbial biomass, numbers and diversity of ammonia oxidizers and the efficiency of ammonia removal. Microbial biomass per gram tuff was significantly higher than that of sand. However, ammonia was immediately removed using tuff filters, while its removal by sand filters started only after ten days, although the numbers of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were higher in the sand filter. In addition, the tuff and sand filters were dominated by different species of AOB. The tuff filter was dominated by Nitrosospira species, while the sand filter was dominated by Nitrosomonas. In the practical level, tuff can be used as an efficient matrix in IBF for the removal of ammonia, possibly by creating a more suitable environment for bacterial activity than sand. This study suggests an available and cheap matrix to produce high quality effluents by IBF.
AB - The aim of this study was to investigate the potential use of tuff as a matrix for ammonia removal in an intermittent flow biofilter (IBF) compared to sand. Sand and tuff filters were characterized regarding their respective total biofilm microbial biomass, numbers and diversity of ammonia oxidizers and the efficiency of ammonia removal. Microbial biomass per gram tuff was significantly higher than that of sand. However, ammonia was immediately removed using tuff filters, while its removal by sand filters started only after ten days, although the numbers of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were higher in the sand filter. In addition, the tuff and sand filters were dominated by different species of AOB. The tuff filter was dominated by Nitrosospira species, while the sand filter was dominated by Nitrosomonas. In the practical level, tuff can be used as an efficient matrix in IBF for the removal of ammonia, possibly by creating a more suitable environment for bacterial activity than sand. This study suggests an available and cheap matrix to produce high quality effluents by IBF.
KW - Ammonia-oxidizers
KW - Intermittent filtration
KW - Nitrification
KW - Sand filter
KW - Tuff filter
KW - Wastewater treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84875233939&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2012.12.075
DO - 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2012.12.075
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AN - SCOPUS:84875233939
SN - 0925-8574
VL - 53
SP - 354
EP - 360
JO - Ecological Engineering
JF - Ecological Engineering
ER -