ENHANCEMENT OF BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY IN BIOFILTERS BY AMINO ACID SUPPLEMENTATION

Abstract

To achieve optimal growth during biological filtration a balance of available carbon (substrate) and nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus should be available for biological growth. The literature has suggested a carbon (C): nitrogen (N): phosphorus (P) ratio of 100:10:1 for successful growth. This thesis addresses this gap in the literature by examining the role of organic nitrogen as chemical amendment to enhance biological growth in a reproducible manner. The hypothesis of this work is that of amino acids amendment can enhance biological filtration by increasing active biomass. In this study, the specific growth rate was increased from 0.058 h-1 to 0.094-0.148 h-1 in filtered flocculated water with addition of amino acids. The biomass adenosine triphosphate (ATP) of the estimated growth model was increased from 220-640 pg/cm2 to 3.2×104-2.9×105 pg/cm2 in amino acid supplemented biofilters with the target concentration of 3 mg amino acid/L.