High pH (and not free ammonia) is responsible for Anammox inhibition in mildly alkaline solutions with excess of ammonium

D. Puyol, J. M. Carvajal-Arroyo, G. B. Li, A. Dougless, M. Fuentes-Velasco, R. Sierra-Alvarez, J. A. Field

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ammonium is a substrate of the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) process but it has been suggested as a substrate-inhibitor because of the action of its unionized form, free ammonia. High pH of the medium is also an important limiting factor of the Anammox bacteria. Both effects are difficult to discriminate. In this work the inhibitory effects of high pH, total ammonia (TA) and NH3 on the Anammox process were investigated simultaneously. Results confirmed that TA caused no inhibition and high pH is a much more important inhibiting factor than NH3 in mildly alkaline conditions, based on a multi-factorial analysis. Values of pH higher than 7.6 caused Anammox inhibition >10 % and should be avoided during the application of the Anammox process in practice.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1981-1986
Number of pages6
JournalBiotechnology Letters
Volume36
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2014

Keywords

  • Anammox
  • Free ammonia
  • Inhibition
  • Multi-factorial analysis
  • PH

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Bioengineering
  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

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