Kinetics of nitrification and denitrification reactions

Abstract Nitrification and denitrification are important microbiological reactions of nitrogen. In this work, the kinetics of these reactions have been investigated based on a Monod‐type expression involving two growth limiting substrates: ammonium nitrogen and dissolved oxygen for nitrification and nitrate nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon for denitrification. The kinetic constants and yield coefficients were evaluated for both these reactions. Past experimental work was used to determine the constants for the nitrification reaction. For the denitrification reaction, experiments were performed in a stirred tank reactor under conditions such that only one substrate was growth limiting. Steady‐state values of the substrate concentrations in the reactor were determined at various dilution rates. These data were analyzed to obtain the kinetic and stoichiometric constants. From these constants it was concluded that in the range of nitrate nitrogen concentrations encountered in waste water, the denitrification reaction can be considered a first‐order reaction. It was also found that three times as much organic carbon is required as nitrate nitrogen for complete nitrogen removal.