In this study, we compared the MZVI (Microscale Zero-Valent Iron) and NZVI (Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron) for reactivity and mobility in a column to reduce nitrate, which is a major pollutant in Korea, and investigated the effect of operational parameters on the NZVI filled column. For the comparison of MZVI and NZVI, samples were collected for 990 minutes using fractionator in the similar operation conditions (MZVI 10g, NZVI 2g). The nitrate reduction efficiency of NZVI was about 5 times higher than that of MZVI, which was about 7.45% and 38.75% when using MZVI and NZVI, respectively. In the mobility experiment, the MZVI descended due to gravity while NZVI moved up with water flow due to its small size. Furthermore, the optimum condition of NZVI filled column was determined by changing the flow rate and pH. The amount of Fe ions was increased as the pH of the nitrate solution was lowered, and the nitrate removal rate was similar due to the higher yield of hydroxyl groups. The removal rate of nitrate nitrogen was stable while flow rate was increased from 0.5 mL/min to 2.0 mL/min (empty bed contact time: 2.26 min to 0.57 min). NZVI has a high reduction rate of nitrate, but it also has a high mobility, so both of reactivity and mobility need to be considered when NZVI is applied for drinking water treatment.

Excessive nitrate content in drinking groundwater is one of the sources of nitrate-nitrogen that threatens humanhealth all over the world. Nitrate-nitrogen reduction technology is categorized into membrane filtration, electro-dial-ysis, ion exchange, adsorption, chemical methods, and biological methods according to the principle of eliminationfrom water. In particular, an adsorption technique is the most popular and common process because of its cost effec-tiveness, convenience, and effective adsorption. In this review, the application of conventional adsorbents used toreduce nitrate-nitrogen from drinking water is discussed and novel technologies on nitrate-nitrogen removal are intro-duced. Furthermore, the recent development of novel nitrate-nitrogen adsorbents from biopolymers such as chitosanand agricultural and industrial byproducts is reviewed.

The use of support materials on the nanoparticle synthesis and applications has advantages in many aspects; resisting the aggregation and gelation of nanoparticles, providing more active sites by dispersing over the supports, and facilitating a filtering process. In order to elucidate the influence of the supports on the nitrate reduction reactivity, the supported iron nanoparticles were prepared by borohydride reduction of an aqueous iron salt in the presence of supports such as activated carbon, silica and polyethylene. The reactivity for nitrate reduction decreased in the order of unsupported Fe(0) > activated carbon(AC) supported Fe(0) > polyethylene(PE) supported Fe(0) ≥ silica supported Fe(0). Rate constants decrease with increasing initial nitrate concentration implying that the reaction is limited by the surface reaction kinetics.

From sludge of S municipal wastewater treatment plant in Busan, Korea, we isolated the denitrifier DN-9 which showed the ability of denitrification under aerobic condition by the color change and gas formation in liquid culture with Giltay medium. The isolated strain was identified as Pseudomonas sp. DN-9 on the basis of the morphological, physiological, biochemical and nucleotide sequence analysis of 16S rRNA. The isolated strain, Pseudomonas sp. DN-9, has cytochrome cd1 nirS of nitrite reductase. By the co-existance of additional ammonium and nitrate ion, the strain was not affected largely on growth in SL series broth. It seemed the result of denitrification. Although Pseudomonas sp. DN-9 has a good nitrate reduction activity under aerobic condition, the activity is less than Pseudomonas stutzeri in same cultivation condition. However, Escherichia coli had little the activity of aerobic denitrification and Pseudomonas putida showed lower activity of aerobic denitrification than Pseudomonas sp. DN-9 and Pseudomonas stutzeri in this study.