In this research, characteristics of nitrification and denitrification using the microorganism attached on sponge and plates were examined. The denitrification and nitrification performance were investigated under the anaerobic and aerobic condition for about 2 months. Because the basins of denitrification and nitrification were connected in series, wastewater was flowed from denitrification basin to nitrification one. The 90% of influent flowrate was returned from nitrification basin to denitrification one. Most of organic material was removed in nitrification basin, wherease the only exact amount of organics required in denitrification process was removed in denitrification one. This experiment resulted in that heterotrophic bacteria existing in aerobic basin governed the removal efficiency of organic compounds. In case the influent BOD concentration into nitrification basin was 80mg/l, it did not affect to accumulation of nitrifying bacteria, the balance of heterotrophic bacteria was proved to be an important factor in nitrification/denitrification method such as anaerobic and aerobic cycling type.

Trickling filter has been extensively studied for the domestic wastewater treatment especially for the small scale plants in rural area. The performance of the trickling filter depends on the microbial community and their activity in the biofilms on the media. Nitrification, denitrification, and phosphorus removal of the trickling filter from the wastewater depend on the activity and the amount of the specific microorganisms responsible for the metabolism. For the estimation of the performance of a trickling filter, batch nitrification experiment and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were carried out to measure the microbial activity and its distribution on the media of the trickling filter. Batch nitrification activity measurement showed that the top part of the 1st stage trickling filter had the highest nitrification activity and the maximum activity was 0.002 g NH4-N/g MLVSS․h. It is thought that higher substrate (ammonia) concentration yields more nitrifying bacteria in the biofilms. The dominant ammonia oxidizer and nitrite oxidizer in the biofilm were Nitrosomonas species and genus Nitrospira, respectively, by FISH analysis. Less denitrifiers were found than nitrifiers in the biofilm by the probe Rrp1088 which specifically binds to Rhodobacter, Rhodovulum, Roseobacter, and Paracoccus. Phosphorus accumulating bacteria were mostly found at the surface of the biofilm by probe Rc988 and PAO651 which specifically binds to Rhodocyclus group and their biomass was less than that of nitrifiers.