Isolation of Microorganisms and Development of Microbial Augmentation for Treatment of Industrial Wastewater containing Ammonium Nitrogen

Abstract

For effective treatment of wastewater containing ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N), AT2, AT9, and AT12 strains, having high total organic carbon (TOC) removal capability, and FN47, possessing excellent ammonia nitrogen removal capability present in the activated sludge in the aeration tank of food wastewater treatment plants, were isolated and identified. The cells of these isolated strains were used for microbial augmentation with FIW-1 in the defatted rice bran as a medium to treat industrial wastewater. The investigation of the cultural characteristics of these isolated strains in the aeration tank showed that the affinities for substrate of the isolated strains were extremely high, of which AT12 (Alcaligenes sp. AT12) was the highest among the isolated strains. Ammonium nitrogen removal efficiency in the food wastewater was 71% in the isolated strain FN47 (Microbacterium sp. FN47) treatment group. When only activated sludge was added in the lab scale pilot using food wastewater during continuous culture experiment, the TOC removal efficiency was 63%. Meanwhile, the removal efficiency of 92% was obtained when the microbial augmentation FIW-1 for wastewater treatment was applied. In addition, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) level from the effluent wherein microbial augmentation FIW-1 was input for the initial three days in the wastewater treatment site experiment showed a treatment rate of about 43%, which was increased to 62% after an elapse of 5 days.