Impact of Increased Chloride Concentration on Nitrifying-Activated Sludge Cultures

Abstract

The impact of increased chloride concentration on continuous flow nitrifying-activated sludge cultures is reported in this paper. To examine further the effect of chloride concentration on nitrifying-activated sludge, a nitrifying batch culture with increased chloride concentration was also investigated. The variables tested included the ammonia removal efficiency, the specific nitrification rate (SNR), and the dominant species of the nitrifiers. A continuous culture of nitrifying-activated sludge with a gradual increase in the chloride concentration in the influent was found to perform better than one with a fixed influent chloride concentration. However, a down-and-up variation in the ammonia removal efficiency was observed in this culture after the influent chloride concentration reached