Abstract
The ability of the thermophilic denitrifying bacterium Geobacillus sp. strain TDN01, which can grow at 60°C, to denitrify municipal wastewater was tested. The wastewater was nitrified using a nitrifying bacteria mixture at 25-30°C. This nitrified municipal wastewater included 7.9 mM nitrate, but no nitrite. Strain TDN01 was added to this nitrified wastewater and various treatment conditions were tested. Strain TDN01 requires an organic carbon source for denitrification, but it showed sufficient denitrification activity on adding non-treated municipal wastewater to nitrified municipal wastewater. After the denitrification process using strain TDN01, neither nitrate nor ammonia were detected (<1μM). This strain can also reduce nitrite, so the complete oxidation of ammonia to nitrate before the denitrification process was not necessary.
