title: Estimating nitrifying biomass in drinking water filters for surface water treatment.
abstract: The objective of this work is to estimate active nitrifying biomass and its main influencing factors in low-loaded biofilters based on operational data. An analytical approach based on balancing growth, decay and biomass removed by backwashing is proposed. The method is developed and applied in pilot-scale rapid sand filters for drinking water treatment. Decay rate was measured directly in the filter for different temperatures. To assess the amount of active biomass in backwash water, a technique based on respiration measurements was used. Backwash losses increased overproportional with balanced biomass in the filter. The impact of both parameters on active biomass is quantified exemplarily for a given constant nitrification rate.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Urban Water Management, Dresden University of Technology, 01062 Dresden, Germany. jens.traenckner@mailbox.tu-dresden.de
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tränckner
authors.forename: Burkhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wricke
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Krebs
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018533:Biomass; D005374:Filtration; D009573:Nitrites / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018508:Water Purification; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D009573:Nitrites; D000641:Ammonia; D009584:Nitrogen