Microbial Degradation of Urea from Urea Bearing Wastewaters
Urea and ammonia are mostly present in wastewaters from nitrogenous fertilizer industries. Urea can not be oxidized by usual oxidation methods, microbiological hydrolysis of urea is necessary for removal of urea from wastewater. Biological degradation of urea is a two staged process; (i) urea...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Action for Sustainable Efficacious Development and Awareness
2001-03-01
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| Series: | Environment Conservation Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journal.environcj.in/index.php/ecj/article/view/2200 |
| Summary: | Urea and ammonia are mostly present in wastewaters from nitrogenous fertilizer industries. Urea can not be oxidized by usual oxidation methods, microbiological hydrolysis of urea is necessary for removal of urea from wastewater. Biological degradation of urea is a two staged process; (i) urea hydrolysis and (ii) ammonia stripping/nitrification-denitrification. Microbiological hydrolysis of urea through biohydrolyzer removes urea from fertilizer effluents , in which ,ureolytic bacteria Bacillus Pasteurii converts urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide through ammonium carbonate as an intermediate product. Removal of ammonia is either by stripping or converting into nitrate on nitrification by chemoautotraphic bacteria Nitrosomonas sp. and further by Nitrobacter sp. into nitrate. On dentirification, nitrate is finally converted into nitrogen gas by means of heterotrophic bacteria. Based on earlier laboratory investigations, urea bio-hydrolyser was designed, installed and commissioned in fertilizer industry as additional full scale unit to treat urea and ammonia bearing wastewaters. Ammonia stripped effluent was mixed with septic tank effluents from industry and township sewage and routed through various lagoons cultured with algae - chlorella to minimize nitrogen. Evaluation of full scale urea bio-hydrolyser and effluent treatment plant before and after modifications at ETP is discussed in this paper.
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| ISSN: | 0972-3099 2278-5124 |