ABSTRACT

In this chapter, we will present the theory and models that we will use in the rest of this book for the study of biological wastewater treatment processes.

2.1 MICROBIAL GROWTH We have seen in Chapter 1 that growth of microorganisms on a substrate can be schematised as a chemical reaction where the substrate and nutrients (and possibly electron acceptors as oxygen or nitrate) are the reactants, and new microorganisms and other compounds (organic or inorganic) are the products. In this section, we want to learn how to write the stoichiometry and kinetics of fermentation reactions. Fermentation reactions, that is reactions which involve microbial growth on a substrate, can be described with the same principles that apply to any chemical reaction.