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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Measurement of the Potential Rates of Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction to Ammonium Based on 14NH4+/15NH4+ Analyses via Sequential Conversion to N2O
Published on: October 7, 2020
Simultaneous online measurement of sulfide and nitrate in sewers for nitrate dosage optimisation
Oriol Gutierrez1, Luke Sutherland-Stacey, Zhiguo Yuan
1Advanced Water Management Centre, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Australia. oriol@awmc.uq.edu.au
Abstract:
A new method for the simultaneous online measurement of sulfide and nitrate in wastewater is developed. A UV-VIS spectrometer was used. The sensor was calibrated by means of simultaneous online and offline measurements of sulfide and nitrate in batch tests carried out on a laboratory-scale sewer system. The developed calibration algorithm was successfully validated for both sulfide and nitrate measurement, with confidence limits of 2.7 mg S/L for total dissolved sulfide, and 7.5 mg N/L for nitrate. The online measurement of sulfide and nitrate enabled detailed evaluation of seven nitrate dosing strategies in the laboratory-scale sewer system, providing strong support to process optimisation. The dosage optimisation revealed that nitrate should be added at a location close to the point of sulfide control rather than at the beginning of a rising main, at a rate proportional to the expected hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the wastewater in the sewer section between the point of nitrate addition and the point where sulfide control is desired.

