Co-Authors:
Sabbah, I., The Galilee Society Institute of Applied Research, P.O. Box 437, Shefa-Amr 20200, Israel, Prof. Ephraim Katzir Department of Biotechnology Engineering, ORT Braude College, P.O. Box 78, Karmiel 21982, Israel
Baransi, K., The Galilee Society Institute of Applied Research, P.O. Box 437, Shefa-Amr 20200, Israel
Massalha, N., The Galilee Society Institute of Applied Research, P.O. Box 437, Shefa-Amr 20200, Israel
Dawas, A., The Galilee Society Institute of Applied Research, P.O. Box 437, Shefa-Amr 20200, Israel
Saadi, I., Research Organization, Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Newe Ya'ar Research Center, Ramat Yishay 30095, Israel
Nejidat, A., Department of Environmental Hydrology and Microbiology, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus 84990, Israel
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to investigate the potential use of tuff as a matrix for ammonia removal in an intermittent flow biofilter (IBF) compared to sand. Sand and tuff filters were characterized regarding their respective total biofilm microbial biomass, numbers and diversity of ammonia oxidizers and the efficiency of ammonia removal. Microbial biomass per gram tuff was significantly higher than that of sand. However, ammonia was immediately removed using tuff filters, while its removal by sand filters started only after ten days, although the numbers of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were higher in the sand filter. In addition, the tuff and sand filters were dominated by different species of AOB. The tuff filter was dominated by Nitrosospira species, while the sand filter was dominated by Nitrosomonas. In the practical level, tuff can be used as an efficient matrix in IBF for the removal of ammonia, possibly by creating a more suitable environment for bacterial activity than sand. This study suggests an available and cheap matrix to produce high quality effluents by IBF. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.