ONLINE NITRIFICATION INHIBITION MONITORING USING IMMOBILIZED BACTERIA

As wastewater treatment plant managers are required to meet increasing ly stringent standards the focus on processes has shifted more and mor e towards assessing the treatability of a waste. Many substances disch arged to effluent treatment plants may inhibit the process of nitrific ation. Traditional testing methods are costly and cannot be used for r eal time control which has led to the development of the AmtoxTM syste m. AmtoxTM uses a culture of immobilised nitrifying bacteria in a syst em maintained at 30 degrees C. This enhances the rate of nitrification and gives an early warning of toxicity. This paper presents data comp aring Amtox with the conventional nitrification inhibition test method and describes the instrument designed for laboratory use. Preliminary data for the on-line Amtox system are also included : these data prov ide the first, direct continuous measure of nitrification inhibition o n an effluent treatment plant. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.