Western Autotroph Announces Availability Of NitriCALC

Western Autotroph announced immediate availability of NitriCALC™, a new Microsoft Excel based application for evaluating the growth environment of four nitrifying bacteria in water and wastewater.

“With pH and Total Alkalinity measurements of your wastewater or water, NitriCALC will provide qualitative information on the growth environment of the four different types of nitrifying bacteria, which can be grouped as pairs that prefer high or low pH. Biological wastewater treatment professionals are most familiar with the high pH pair of nitrifying bacteria, which includes Nitrosomonas and Nitribacter. The low pH pair includes Nitrosospira and Nitrospira, which were discovered more recently. Autotrophic bacteria like these nitrifiers have growth sensitivity to soluble carbon dioxide that obeys Andrew’s equation instead of the more familiar Monod equation. With Andrew’s equation, higher concentrations of soluble carbon dioxide inhibit growth. Current biological wastewater treatment models only use one set of kinetic parameters based on the high pH pair of nitrifying bacteria and they do not incorporate Andrew’s equation for soluble carbon dioxide,” said Dr. Peter Stroot, Managing Member of Western Autotroph.

In addition to the qualitative information regarding the growth environment for the nitrifiers, NitriCALC also includes warnings that may be of interest for users. Unbalanced nitrification due to higher rates of growth for the ammonium oxidizing bacteria is reported as a Nitrite Warning. For water distribution systems, elevated soluble carbon dioxide levels are interpreted as an Organic Matter Warning.

NitriCALC will be a valuable tool for municipal and industrial water and wastewater managers, and consultants. For municipal and industrial wastewater treatment systems that employ biological nutrient removal (BNR) processes, NitriCALC provides nitrifier growth information that is currently unavailable using conventional modeling software. A careful examination of the growth conditions of the two different pair of nitrifiers may provide insight into poor nitrification episodes not predicted by current modeling software packages. Suggested use of NitriCALC includes the evaluation of the different zones of the aerobic basin at different times of the day (peak vs. overnight), week (weekday vs. weekend), and year (seasonal). NitriCALC may provide an early indication of potential nitrification problems in water distribution systems that use chloramines as a disinfectant. Both finished water and points within the distribution system should be evaluated for shifts in the growth conditions for the nitrifiers.

NitriCALC Availability
NitriCALC is part of Western Autotroph ’s commitment to deliver new products for improving water and wastewater treatment. A Demo or Full Version of NitriCALC is available for download at www.westernautotroph.com/products.htm. The Demo offers a limited set of pH and Total Alkalinity values and 10 day trial period. The Full Version offers a large range of pH and Total Alkalinity values for a 1 year period.

About Western Autotroph
Founded in 2013, Western Autotroph is the worldwide leader in biological wastewater treatment. The company currently offers a wide range of products and services designed to improve nitrification. For more information, visit www.westernautotroph.com.