Process Kinetics for Denitrification

Kinetic equations describing biological growth, substrate removal, and oxygen utilization with the activated sludge process were modified and used to describe the corresponding phenomena in a completely mixed and continuous flow denitrification process. The process kinetics differ primarily with respect to the dependency of variables and process yields. The oxygen equivalent of the nitrates is the independent variable and substrate or carbon source is a dependent variable in the denitrification process. The rate of nitrate reduction was shown, from experimental data, to be a linear function of the sludge loading, and the ratio of substrate applied to nitrate reduced, BOD/N, was constant over this particular range of sludge loadings. The BOD/N ratio was shown to be a function of both the substrate characteristics and the denitrification process employed.