Abstract:
In recent years, the massive and uncontrolled use of fertilizer in agriculture has increased the level of nitrate in
groundwater up to make this strategic and valuable source of water useless or not convenient for drinking water
purpose. Several processes have been tested to remove nitrate from groundwater and although efficient, they
require high capital as well as management costs. Biological processes represent a valid and low cost alternative
to remove nitrate from water. This paper, actually, presents the preliminary and encouraging results of the startup
and operating of a bench scale 1.8L Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) to remove biologically nitrate.
Kaldnes K1were used as biofilm carrier and the reactor was fed with synthetic water simulating a typical
groundwater with different concentrations of nitrate, i.e. NO3
--N ranging from 30 to 60 mg/L. Acetate was added
as carbon source
