Recovery of the nitrifying ability of acclimated biomass exposed to para-nitrophenol.

Para-nitrophenol (PNP) is often detected in industrial wastewater that is discharged into municipal wastewater treatment plants. Intermittent discharge of PNP into municipal treatment facilities puts their biological process at risk of inhibition, and the risk is especially great for nitrification. In this work, nitrifying biomass was acclimated to PNP.

Nitrifying biomass can retain its acclimation to 2,4,6-trichlorophenol.

Many municipal wastewater treatment plants in China receive industrial wastewater that contains inhibitory organic chemicals, such as chlorinated phenols. For the common aerobic biological treatment, nitrification is a key step, but nitrifying bacteria are notably sensitive to inhibition by chlorinated phenols. In this work, normal activated sludge (containing nitrifying biomass) was acclimated to 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP).