BATCH MONOETHYLAMINE DEGRADATION VIA NITRATE RESPIRATION

Monoethylamine (MEA) degradation via nitrate respiration was evaluated in batch experiments using suspended growth bacterial cultures grown under low growth rate conditions. It was found that, under the conditi ons tested, MEA was highly degradable when the initial TOC/MLVSS ratio used in a batch experiment was <0.35, beyond which, however, MEA inhi bition was evident. The composition of the medium solution used to cul tivate the bacterial cultures was critical in MEA degradation via nitr ate respiration. In this study, the best MEA degradation was attained when cobalt (0.45 mg/l), copper (0.5 mg/l), molybdenum (0.5 mg/l), and yeast extract (1.0 mg/l) were all present in the medium solution. Amm onia was formed as an end product from MEA degradation via nitrate res piration. The MEA-N initially added in a batch experiment could be acc ounted for as NH4+-N when the assimilatory requirements for nitrogen w ere negligible during the sampling period. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd