천연 zeolite와 미생물을 이용한 NH4+및 NO3-의 동시 제거

Water pollution by ammonium ion and nitrate is a common and growing problem in the ecosystem. Process of biological removal consists of nitrification and denitrification by bacteria. Ammonium is oxidized generally to nitrate by nitrification and nitrate is reduced to dinitrogen gas in the subsequent denitrification process. Although natural zeolite is well known for its ability to preferentially remove ammonium, it is not sufficiently removing ammonium ion and nitrate by adsorption. In order to overcome this problem, a method of biological removal with zeolite is used for simultaneous removal of ammonium and nitrate. As a result, in case of shaking culture with 1% seed and passing through zeolite column, the process revealed that ammonium ion could be removed completely after 14 hours. The removal of nitrate using columns with naturally adsorbed bacteria onto zeolite reached approximately 100% after 4 hours.