Biotransformation of aromatic compounds from wastewaters containing N and/or S, by nitrification/denitrification: a review

摘要

This review presents progress made over the last decades in the understanding of the metabolic capabilities of nitrifying and denitrifying microorganisms for the biotransformation of nitrogen, sulfur, and carbon compounds present in wastewaters. There are nowadays still many discoveries to be made about the metabolism, phylogeny and ecological behavior of bacteria that play an important role in the nitrogen cycle. The interest of the scientific community in the biological nitrogen cycle is at present very high, because it can be linked to either sulfur or carbon cycles. The connection of biological cycles is of the utmost technological relevance as it has allowed the simultaneous elimination of reduced sulfur and phenolic compounds under nitrifying or denitrifying conditions. The environmental factors affecting the nitrification and denitrification biological processes are described in this review.