Study of the Nitrifying Compartment in MELISSA

Support media for the fixation of nitrifying bacteria were compared. Polystyrene beads were found to be the most effective among the media tested. It was shown that axenic cultures of pure strains of bacteria do not lead to better performance than bacteria seeded from the waste water. Loads as high as 1.6 Kg N-NH4/m3 reactor.d^-1 could be eliminated on the selected media, and oxygen was found to be limiting under 3.5 mg/l of concentration for the fixed bacteria.