title: New concepts of microbial treatment processes for the nitrogen removal in wastewater.
abstract: Many countries strive to reduce the emissions of nitrogen compounds (ammonia, nitrate, NOx) to the surface waters and the atmosphere. Since mainstream domestic wastewater treatment systems are usually already overloaded with ammonia, a dedicated nitrogen removal from concentrated secondary or industrial wastewaters is often more cost-effective than the disposal of such wastes to domestic wastewater treatment. The cost-effectiveness of separate treatment has increased dramatically in the past few years, since several processes for the biological removal of ammonia from concentrated waste streams have become available. Here, we review those processes that make use of new concepts in microbiology: partial nitrification, nitrifier denitrification and anaerobic ammonia oxidation (the anammox process). These processes target the removal of ammonia from gases, and ammonium-bicarbonate from concentrated wastewaters (i.e. sludge liquor and landfill leachate). The review addresses the microbiology, its consequences for their application, the current status regarding application, and the future developments.
authors.affiliation: University of Nijmegen, Department of Microbiology, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 ED, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Olav
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sliekers
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.forename: Eberhard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bock
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fuerst
authors.forename: J Gijs
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Kuenen
authors.forename: Mike S M
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Jetten
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Strous
mesh_terms: D007218:Industrial Microbiology / Q000379:methods*; D009584:Nitrogen; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D009584:Nitrogen