N. Bernet et al., STUDY OF PHYSICOCHEMICAL FACTORS CONTROLLING NITRITE BUILDUP DURING HETEROTROPHIC DENITRIFICATION, Environmental technology, 16(2), 1995, pp. 165-172
The effects of temperature, pH and C/N ratio on nitrite build-up were
studied, using a denitrifying bacteria, an ammonia producing bacteria
and a nitrate reducing consortium. High temperature (with respect to t
he range of temperatures examined: 12.5 degrees C to 35 degrees C) and
alkaline pH (8.5) were favourable to nitrite accumulation. C/N ratio
did not seem to have any effect on this phenomenon. On the other hand,
for all the C/N ratios studied, an increase in the initial nitrate co
ncentration induced an increase in nitrite build-up. In every case, th
e microbial consortium was more efficient in the elimination of all th
e nitrogen oxides than the pure strains used in this study. In all exp
eriments with this consortium, maximum amounts of nitrite measured in
the culture media during the experiments were very low, and at the end
of the experiment, no nitrite was detected in the media.