Abstract : Eleven industrial carbon sources were evaluated for their efficiency to supply energy for biological denitrification of high nitrates (1259 mg/liter) in a single-stage continuous flow fermenter. The determination of relative efficiency was the minimum C/N ratio (grams of carbon to grams of nitrogen) necessary to achieve at least 95 percent denitrification and 90 percent total organic carbon (TOC) removal. Methanol was the most efficient carbon source evaluated, while sweet whey, corn steep liquor, acid whey and soluble potato solids followed in order of decreasing efficiency. Three of the carbon sources failed to achieve the 90 percent reduction in TOC. Sewage sludge was unusable due to lack of available carbon. This order of efficiency may change once other factors are considered such as cost of carbon source, transportation costs, handling costs, availability, and other factors. In the treatment of nitrate contaminated munitions process waters the use of alternate carbon sources will be needed not only for biological nitrate reduction but also for the biological cometabolism of many of the munition compounds themselves.
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