All about Denitrator

There has been quite an interest on denitrator recently and by starting this thread, it will provide more info for those who are interested in it.

Let me start by showing what is inside a typical denitrator:

The 1st picture is showing the denitrator with the top removed.

The 2nd is the content of the a matured denitrator. The black coloured ball is just normal bioball. The whitish coloured is the deniball.

The 3rd is the slime collected in a plastic tub.

What is denitrator?
A denitrator is a device using nitrifying bacteria under anaerobic (i.e. without oxygen) conditions to remove nitrates. This process is called biological denitrification.

What is denitrification?
From www.wikipedia.org, it means: Denitrification is the process of reducing nitrate and nitrite, highly oxidised forms of nitrogen available for consumption by many groups of organisms, into gaseous nitrogen, which is far less accessible to life forms but makes up the bulk of our atmosphere. It can be thought of as the opposite of nitrogen fixation, which converts gaseous nitrogen into a more biologically available form. The process is performed by heterotrophic bacteria (such as Paracoccus denitrificans, Thiobacillus denitrificans, and various pseudomonads) from all main proteolytic groups.

OR

Biological Denitrification: a bacteria-mediated (i.e. biological) process in which nitrate is reduced into nitrogen gas by denitrifying bacteria (typically facultative heterotrophes) underanoxic (oxygen-free) conditions. The process requires that an electron donor (typically an organic carbon source) be present for the reaction to go to completion.

Sounds complicated? I think so too and I prefer to coin as:
It is a process to remove nitrogen or nitrogen groups from (a compound).

Equation for denitrifying process:

Nitrate to Nitrite to Nitrogen


Redox equation (I prefer)

NO3 + 2 electrons + H+ <=> NO2 + H2O

NO2 + 3 electrons + 4 H+ 1/2 N2 (nitrogen gas) + 2 H2O

or taken together:

NO3 + 5 electrons + 6 H+ <=> 1/2 N2 + 3 H2O

[nqh71]

Originally Posted by atom

Equation for denitrifying process:

Nitrate to Nitrite to Nitrogen


Redox equation (I prefer)

NO3 + 2 electrons + H+ <=> NO2 + H2O

NO2 + 3 electrons + 4 H+ 1/2 N2 (nitrogen gas) + 2 H2O

or taken together:

NO3 + 5 electrons + 6 H+ <=> 1/2 N2 + 3 H2O

Wow... Looks like my chemistry lessons many many many years ago... Anyway, thanks for the info... But I am still debating whether having a denitrator or just changing water is more feasible or make more economic sense..

[^GeNoME^]

yew... those bacteria slime/biofilm looks disgusting.. haha.. my mum will kill me if she sees me cleaning those things in my bathroom.. lol

can share the purpose of collecting the slime? gonna add back to the denitrator when u restart it again?

any experience with sulphur denitrator? cos i think it will be way more effective den a bacteria denitrator.. gonna try when i get my 12th month bonus.. tank setup too boring after i remove all my DSBs, plants and NR1000..

Originally Posted by nqh71

Wow... Looks like my chemistry lessons many many many years ago... Anyway, thanks for the info... But I am still debating whether having a denitrator or just changing water is more feasible or make more economic sense..

balancing redox half eqns

haha

[silane]

Originally Posted by atom

There has been quite an interest on denitrator recently and by starting this thread, it will provide more info for those who are interested in it.

Hi atom,

Great thread, you have there.

3 questions for you:
- what is the flowrate recommended?
- what is the high nitrate removal rate you have achieved and what is the typical nitrate removal rate for a setup?
- is deniball a must? or just good to have? Does it help to performance better?

Thank.

Bro atom/tagore:
If one cant find deni balls, is there another alternative?

Originally Posted by chamikara

Bro atom/tagore:
If one cant find deni balls, is there another alternative?

Some examples of organic carbon source are alcohols (such as methyl alcohol or ethyl alcohol), organic acids (such as acetic acid) or other similar organic substances including sugars.