Effects of a dynamic membrane formed with polyethylene glycol on the ultrafiltration of natural organic matter

The formation of a dynamic membrane (DM) was investigated using polyethylene glycol (PEG) (molecular weight of 35000 g/mol, concentration of 1 g/L). Two natural organic matters (NOM), Dongbok Lake NOM (DLNOM) and Suwannee River NOM (SRNOM) were used in the ultrafiltration experiments along with PEG. To evaluate the effects of the DM with PEG on ultrafiltration, various transport experiments were conducted, and the analyses of the NOM in the membrane feed and permeate were performed using high performance size exclusion chromatography, and the effective pore size distribution (effective PSD) and effective molecular weight cut off (effective MWCO) were determined. The advantages of DM formed with PEG can be summarized as follows: (1) PEG interferes with NOM transmission through the ultrafiltration membrane pores by increasing the retention coefficient of NOM in UF membranes, and (2) low removal of NOM by the DM is affected by external factors, such as pressure increases during UF membrane filtration, which decreases the effective PSD and effective MWCO of UF membranes. However, a disadvantage of the DM with PEG was severe flux decline; thus, one must be mindful of both the positive and negative influences of the DM when optimizing the UF performance of the membrane.     

Pyrene partition behavior to the NOM: Effect of NOM characteristics and its modification by ozone preoxidation

Hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs)—pyrene, and natural organic matters (NOM) from different sources were taken as the test compounds to investigate the impact of physicochemical characteristics of NOM on HOCs’ partition to the NOM in this study. The effects of solution property, NOM characteristics, and modification by ozone preoxidation on pyrene partition to NOM were systematically evaluated. According to the fluorescence quenching method, the partition coefficient K _oc of pyrene to NOM was calculated, which was found to have a great relationship with the aromatic structures and hydrophobic functional groups of the NOM. The NOM characteristic modification corresponding to solution property could influence the interactions between the NOM and pyrene. Preozonation could destroy the aromatic or hydrophobic structures of the NOM and decrease K _oc of pyrene.     

Electro-conductive crosslinked polyaniline/carbon nanotube nanofiltration membrane for electro-enhanced removal of bisphenol A

● A crosslinked polyaniline/carbon nanotube NF membrane was fabricated. ● Electro-assistance enhanced the removal rate of the NF membrane for bisphenol A. ● Intermittent voltage-assistance can achieve nearly 100% removal of bisphenol A. ● Membrane adsorption–electro-oxidation process is feasible for micropollutant removal. Nanofiltration (NF) has attracted increasing attention for wastewater treatment and potable water purification. However, the high-efficiency removal of micropollutants by NF membranes is a critical challenge. Owing to the adsorption and subsequent diffusion, some weakly charged or uncharged micropollutants, such as bisphenol A (BPA), can pass through NF membranes, resulting in low removal rates. Herein, an effective strategy is proposed to enhance the BPA removal efficiency of a crosslinked polyaniline/carbon nanotube NF membrane by coupling the membrane with electro-assistance. The membrane exhibited a 31.9% removal rate for 5 mg/L BPA with a permeance of 6.8 L/(m²·h·bar), while the removal rate was significantly improved to 98.1% after applying a voltage of 2.0 V to the membrane. Furthermore, when BPA coexisted with humic acid, the membrane maintained 94% removal of total organic carbon and nearly 100% removal of BPA at 2.0 V over the entire filtration period. Compared to continuous voltage applied to the membrane, an intermittent voltage (2.0 V for 0.5 h with an interval of 3.5 h) could achieve comparable BPA removal efficiency, because of the combined effect of membrane adsorption and subsequent electrochemical oxidation. Density functional theory calculations and BPA oxidation process analyses suggested that BPA was adsorbed by two main interactions: π–π and hydrogen-bond interactions. The adsorbed BPA was further electro-degraded into small organic acids or mineralized to CO₂ and H₂O. This work demonstrates that NF membranes coupled with electro-assistance are feasible for improving the removal of weakly charged or uncharged micropollutants.     

Effectiveness of tertiary treatment processes in removing different classes of emerging contaminants from domestic wastewater

● Different advanced treatment processes were tested for ECs removal from wastewater. ● UV radiation showed low to moderate removal for 5 of the 38 micropollutants. ● Among tested membrane processes, nanofiltration showed the better performance. ● The use of PAC achieved high or partially removal for 31 out of the 38 compounds. ● The environmental and economical evaluation of a pilot-scale PAC unit is suggested. In this work, 38 different organic emerging contaminants (ECs), belonging to various chemical classes such as pharmaceuticals (PhCs), endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), benzotriazoles (BTRs), benzothiazoles (BTHs), and perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), were initially identified and quantified in the biologically treated wastewater collected from Athens’ (Greece) Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). Processes already used in existing STPs such as microfiltration (MF), nanofiltration (NF), ultrafiltration (UF), UV radiation, and powdered activated carbon (PAC) were assessed for ECs’ removal, under the conditions that represent their actual application for disinfection or advanced wastewater treatment. The results indicated that MF removed only one out of the 38 ECs and hence it was selected as pretreatment step for the other processes. UV radiation in the studied conditions showed low to moderate removal for 5 out of the 38 ECs. NF showed better results than UF due to the smaller pore sizes of the filtration system. However, this enhancement was observed mainly for 8 compounds originating from the classes of PhCs and PFCs, while the removal of EDCs was not statistically significant. Among the various studied technologies, PAC stands out due to its capability to sufficiently remove most ECs. In particular, removal rates higher than 70% were observed for 9 compounds, 22 were partially removed, while 7 demonstrated low removal rates. Based on our screening experiments, future research should focus on scaling-up PAC in actual conditions, combining PAC with other processes, and conduct a complete economic and environmental assessment of the treatment.     

MBR工艺处理螺旋霉素制药废水过程中抗生素耐药菌与抗性基因的研究

抗生素废水含有大量的抗生素耐药菌(antibiotic resistant bacteria,ARB)与抗性基因(antibiotic resistance genes,ARGs),处理排放后可能增强受纳环境的微生物抗性,因此有必要深入研究抗生素废水处理过程中ARB与ARGs的削减效果及其影响因素。本研究采用膜生物反应器(membrane bioreactor,MBR)工艺处理螺旋霉素制药废水,考察了不同水力停留时间(hydraulic retention time,HRT)对ARB与ARGs削减效果的影响。结果表明,虽然在HRT=30 h时MBR对COD与氨氮的去除率略高于HRT=40 h,但HRT=40 h时,不仅总异养菌与肠球菌的去除效果更佳,出水肠球菌耐药率及携带的抗性基因检出率也更低,而且MBR对废水中erm B、erm F、erm X、mef A、ere A、mph B和转移元件ISCR 1、Tn 916/1545相对丰度的削减效果更好。这表明长HRT更有利于MBR工艺削减螺旋霉素废水的耐药菌与抗性基因。     

The abatement of major pollutants in air and water by environmental catalysis

This review reports the research progress in the abatement of major pollutants in air and water by environmental catalysis. For air pollution control, the selective catalytic reduction of NO _x (SCR) by ammonia and hydrocarbons on metal oxide and zeolite catalysts are reviewed and discussed, as is the removal of Hg from flue gas by catalysis. The oxidation of Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by photo- and thermal-catalysis for indoor air quality improvement is reviewed. For wastewater treatment, the catalytic elimination of inorganic and organic pollutants in wastewater is presented. In addition, the mechanism for the procedure of abatement of air and water pollutants by catalysis is discussed in this review. Finally, a research orientation on environment catalysis for the treatment of air pollutants and wastewater is proposed.     

Removal of organic matter and disinfection by-products precursors in a hybrid process combining ozonation with ceramic membrane ultrafiltration

The performance of an integrated process including coagulation, ozonation, ceramic ultrafiltration (UF) and biologic activated carbon (BAC) filtration was investigated for the removal of organic matter and disinfection by-products (DBPs) precursors from micro-polluted surface water. A pilot scale plant with the capacity of 120 m³ per day was set up and operated for the treatment of drinking water. Ceramic membranes were used with the filtration area of 50 m² and a pore size of 60 nm. Dissolved organic matter was divided into five fractions including hydrophobic acid (HoA), base (HoB) and neutral (HoN), weakly hydrophobic acid (WHoA) and hydrophilic matter (HiM) by DAX-8 and XAD-4 resins. The experiment results showed that the removal of organic matter was significantly improved with ozonation in advance. In sum, the integrated process removed 73% of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), 87% of UV₂₅₄, 77% of trihalomethane (THMs) precursors, 76% of haloacetic acid (HAAs) precursors, 83%of trichloracetic aldehyde (CH) precursor, 77% of dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN) precursor, 51% of trichloroacetonitrile (TCAN) precursor, 96% of 1,1,1-trichloroacetone (TCP) precursor and 63% of trichloronitromethane (TCNM) precursor. Hydrophobic organic matter was converted into hydrophilic organic matter during ozonation/UF, while the organic matter with molecular weight of 1000–3000 Da was remarkably decreased and converted into lower molecular weight organic matter ranged from 200–500 Da. DOC had a close linear relationship with the formation potential of DBPs.     

Microalgae cultivation and culture medium recycling by a two-stage cultivation system

Nutrients and water play an important role in microalgae cultivation. Using wastewater as a culture medium is a promising alternative to recycle nutrients and water, and for further developing microalgae-based products. In the present study, two species of microalgae, Chlorella sp. (high ammonia nitrogen tolerance) and Spirulina platensis (S. platensis, high growth rate), were cultured by using poultry wastewater through a two-stage cultivation system for algal biomass production. Ultrafiltration (UF) or centrifuge was used to harvest Chlorella sp. from the first cultivation stage and to recycle culture medium for S. platensis growth in the second cultivation stage. Results showed the two-stage cultivation system produced high microalgae biomass including 0.39 g·L^–1Chlorella sp. and 3.45 g·L^–1S. platensis in the first-stage and second-stage, respectively. In addition, the removal efficiencies of NH₄⁺ reached 19% and almost 100% in the first and the second stage, respectively. Total phosphorus (TP) removal reached 17% and 83%, and total organic carbon (TOC) removal reached 55% and 72% in the first and the second stage, respectively. UF and centrifuge can recycle 96.8% and 100% water, respectively. This study provides a new method for the combined of pure microalgae cultivation and wastewater treatment with culture medium recycling.

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Characterization of the dissolved organic matter in sewage effluent of sequence batch reactor: the impact of carbon source

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) transformation in sequence batch reactor (SBR) fed with carbon sources of different biodegradability was investigated. During the biologic degradation process, the low molecular weight (MW) fraction (< 1 kDa) gradually decreased, while the refractory compounds with higher aromaticity were aggregated. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and fluorescence of excitation emission matrices (EEM) demonstrated that more biopolymers (polysaccharides or proteins) and humic-like substances were presented in the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) extracted from the SBR fed with sodium acetate or glucose, while the EPS from SBR fed with slowly biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (DOC) substratestarch had relatively less biopolymers. Comparing the EfOM in sewage effluent of three SBRs, the effluent from SBR fed with starch is more aromatic. Organic carbon with MW>1 kDa as well as the hydrophobic fraction in DOM gradually increased with the carbon sources changing from sodium acetate to glucose and starch. The DOC fractionation and the EEM all demonstrated that EfOM from the effluent of the SBR fed with starch contained more fulvic acid-like substances comparing with the SBR fed with sodium acetate and glucose.     

Mechanisms for simultaneous ozonation of sulfamethoxazole and natural organic matters in secondary effluent from sewage treatment plant

• SMX was mainly degraded by hydrolysis, isoxazole oxidation and double-bond addition. • Isoxazole oxidation and bond addition products were formed by direct ozonation. • Hydroxylated products were produced by indirect oxidation. • NOM mainly affected the degradation of SMX by consuming ^•OH rather than O₃. • Inhibitory effect of NOM on SMX removal was related to the components’ aromaticity. Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) is commonly detected in wastewater and cannot be completely decomposed during conventional treatment processes. Ozone (O₃) is often used in water treatment. This study explored the influence of natural organic matters (NOM) in secondary effluent of a sewage treatment plant on the ozonation pathways of SMX. The changes in NOM components during ozonation were also analyzed. SMX was primarily degraded by hydrolysis, isoxazole-ring opening, and double-bond addition, whereas hydroxylation was not the principal route given the low maximum abundances of the hydroxylated products, with m/z of 269 and 287. The hydroxylation process occurred mainly through indirect oxidation because the maximum abundances of the products reduced by about 70% after the radical quencher was added, whereas isoxazole-ring opening and double-bond addition processes mainly depended on direct oxidation, which was unaffected by the quencher. NOM mainly affected the degradation of micropollutants by consuming ^•OH rather than O₃ molecules, resulting in the 63%–85% decrease in indirect oxidation products. The NOM in the effluent were also degraded simultaneously during ozonation, and the components with larger aromaticity were more likely degraded through direct oxidation. The dependences of the three main components of NOM in the effluent on indirect oxidation followed the sequence: humic-like substances>fluvic-like substances>protein-like substances. This study reveals the ozonation mechanism of SMX in secondary effluent and provides a theoretical basis for the control of SMX and its degradation products in actual water treatment.     

Competition for electrons between reductive dechlorination and denitrification

It is common that 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) coexists with nitrate or nitrite in industrial wastewaters. In this work, simultaneous reductive dechlorination of TCP and denitrification of nitrate or nitrite competed for electron donor, which led to their mutual inhibition. All inhibitions could be relieved to a certain degree by augmenting an organic electron donor, but the impact of the added electron donor was strongest for TCP. For simultaneous reduction of TCP together with nitrate, TCP’s removal rate value increased 75% and 150%, respectively, when added glucose was increased from 0.4 mmol?L^–1 to 0.5 mmol?L^–1 and to 0.76 mmol?L^–1. For comparison, the removal rate for nitrate increased by only 25% and 114% for the same added glucose. The relationship between their initial biodegradation rates versus their initial concentrations could be represented well with the Monod model, which quantified their half-maximum-rate concentration (K _S value), and K _S values for TCP, nitrate, and nitrite were larger with simultaneous reduction than independent reduction. The increases in K _S are further evidence that competition for the electron donor led to mutual inhibition. For bioremediation of wastewater containing TCP and oxidized nitrogen, both reduction reactions should proceed more rapidly if the oxidized nitrogen is nitrite instead of nitrate and if readily biodegradable electron acceptor is augmented.

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Changes of microbial composition during wastewater reclamation and distribution systems revealed by high-throughput sequencing analyses

This study employed 454-pyrosequencing to investigate microbial and pathogenic communities in two wastewater reclamation and distribution systems. A total of 11972 effective 16S rRNA sequences were acquired from these two reclamation systems, and then designated to relevant taxonomic ranks by using RDP classifier. The Chao index and Shannon diversity index showed that the diversities of microbial communities decreased along wastewater reclamation processes. Proteobacteria was the most dominant phylum in reclaimed water after disinfection, which accounted for 83% and 88% in two systems, respectively. Human opportunistic pathogens, including Clostridium, Escherichia, Shigella, Pseudomonas and Mycobacterium, were selected and enriched by disinfection processes. The total chlorine and nutrients (TOC, NH₃-N and NO₃-N) significantly affected the microbial and pathogenic communities during reclaimed water storage and distribution processes. Our results indicated that the disinfectant-resistant pathogens should be controlled in reclaimed water, since the increases in relative abundances of pathogenic bacteria after disinfection implicate the potential public health associated with reclaimed water.     

Chemical identification and genotoxicity analysis of petrochemical industrial wastewater

The actual harmful effects of industrial wastewater can not be reflected by the conventional water quality index. Therefore, the change in dissolved organic matter and the genetic toxicity of petrochemical wastewater were observed in the current study by examining the wastewater treatment plant of a large petrochemical enterprise in Northwest China. Using XAD-8, MSC, and DA-7 resins, the wastewater was separated into six fractions, namely, hydrophobic acid (HOA), hydrophobic neutral (HOB), hydrophobic alkaline, hydrophilic acid, hydrophilic alkaline, and hydrophilic neutral. Umu-test was used to detect the genetic toxicity of the wastewater samples, and fluorescence spectra were also obtained to examine genetic toxic substances. The results show that wastewater treatment facilities can effectively reduce the concentration of organic matter in petrochemical wastewater (p<0.05). However, the mixing of aniline wastewater can increase the amount of organic carbon (p<0.05) and can overload facilities. This finding shows that the mixed collection and joint treatment of different types of petrochemical wastewater can affect the water quality of the effluent. Particularly, hydrophobic substances can be difficult to remove and account for a relatively large proportion of the effluent. The mixture of aniline wastewater can increase the genetic toxicity of the effluent (p<0.05), and biologic treatment can not effectively decrease the toxicity. Most of the genetic toxicology may exist in the HOA and HOB fractions. Fluorescence spectroscopy also confirms this result, and tryptophan-like substances may play an important role in genetic toxicity.     

Application of permanganate in the oxidation of micropollutants: a mini review

As a green oxidant, permanganate has received considerable attention for the removal of micropollutants in drinking water treatment. To provide a better understanding of the oxidation of organic micropollutants with permanganate, the oxidation kinetics of 32 micropollutants were compiled. The pollutants include algal toxins, endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and pharmaceuticals. The oxidation kinetics of micropollutants by permanganate were found to be first order with respect to both contaminant and permanganate concentrations from which second-order rate constants (k″) were obtained. Permanganate oxidized the heterocyclic aromatics with vinyl moiety (i.e., microcystins, carbamazepine, and dichlorvos) by the addition of double bonds. For the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with alkyl groups, permanganate attacked the benzylic C-H through abstraction of hydrogen. The mechanism for the oxidation of phenolic EDCs by permanganate was a single electron transfer and aromatic ring cleavage. The presence of background matrices could enhance the oxidation of some phenolic EDCs by permanganate, including phenol, chlorinated phenols, bisphenol A, and trichlosan. The toxicity of dichlorvos solution increased after permanganate oxidation, and the estrogenic activity of bisphnol A/estrone increased significantly at the beginning of permanganate oxidation. Therefore, the toxicity of degradation products or intermediates should be determined in the permanganate oxidation processes to better evaluate the applicability of permanganate. The influence of background ions on the permanganate oxidation process is far from clear and should be elucidated in the future studies to better predict the performance of permanganate oxidation of micropollutants. Moreover, methods should be employed to catalyze the permanganate oxidation process to achieve better removal of micropollutants.     

Control strategies for disinfection byproducts by ion exchange resin,nanofiltration and their sequential combination

● Effects of AER adsorption and NF on DBP precursors, DBPs, and TOX were examined. ● A treatment approach of resin adsorption followed by nanofiltration was developed. ● Both DOC and Br⁻ could be effectively removed by the sequential approach. ● DBPs, TOX, and cytotoxicity were significantly reduced by the sequential approach. Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are emerging pollutants in drinking water with high health risks. Precursor reduction before disinfection is an effective strategy to control the formation of DBPs. In this study, three types of anion exchange resins (AERs) and two types of nanofiltration (NF) membranes were tested for their control effects on DBP precursors, DBPs, and total organic halogen (TOX). The results showed that, for AER adsorption, the removal efficiencies of DBP precursors, DBPs, and TOX increased with the increase of resin dose, and the strong basic macroporous anion exchange resin (M500MB) had the highest removal efficiencies. For NF, the highest removal efficiencies were achieved at an operating pressure of 4 bar, and the membrane (NF90) with a smaller molecular weight cut-off, had a better control efficiency. However, AER adsorption was inefficient in removing dissolved organic carbon (DOC); NF was inefficient in removing Br⁻ resulting in insufficient control of Br-DBPs. Accordingly, a sequential approach of AER (M500MB) adsorption followed by NF (NF90) was developed to enhance the control efficiency of DBPs. Compared with single AER adsorption and single NF, the sequential approach further increased the removal efficiencies of DOC by 19.4%–101.9%, coupled with the high Br⁻ removal efficiency of 92%, and thus improved the reduction of cyclic DBPs and TOX by 3.5%–4.9%, and 2.4%–8.4%, respectively; the sequential approach also reduced the cytotoxicity of the water sample by 66.4%.     

Removal of cadmium(II), lead(II), and chromium(VI) ions from aqueous solution using clay

Removal of cadmium(II), lead(II), and chromium(VI) from aqueous solution using clay, a naturally occurring low-cost adsorbent, under various conditions, such as contact time, initial concentration, temperature, and pH has been investigated. The sorption of these metals follows both Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms. The magnitude of Langmuir and Freundlich constants at 30°C for cadmium, lead, and chromium indicate good adsorption capacity. The kinetic rate constants (K _ad) indicate that the adsorption follows first order. The thermodynamic parameters: free energy change (ΔG ^o), enthalpy change (ΔH ^o), and entropy change (ΔS ^o) show that adsorption is an endothermic process and that adsorption is favored at high temperature. The results reveal that clay is a good adsorbent for the removal of these metals from wastewater.     

Removing nitrogen and phosphorus from simulated wastewater using algal biofilm technique

Algal biofilmtechnology is a new and advanced wastewater treatment method. Experimental study on removing nitrogen and phosphorus from simulated wastewater using algal biofilm under the continuous light of 3500 Lux in the batch and continuous systems was carried out in this paper to assess the performance of algal biofilm in removing nutrients. The results showed that the effect of removing nitrogen and phosphorus by algal biofilm was remarkable in the batch system. The removal efficiencies of total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), ammonia-nitrogen (NH₃-N), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reached 98.17%, 86.58%, 91.88%, and 97.11%, respectively. In the continuous system, hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4 days was adopted; the effects of removing TP, TN, NH₃-N, and COD by algal biofilm were very stable. During a run of 24 days, the removal efficiencies of TP, TN, NH₃-N, and COD reached 95.38%, 83.93%, 82.38%, and 92.31%, respectively. This study demonstrates the feasibility of removing nitrogen and phosphorus from simulated wastewater using algal biofilm.     

Pilot-scale studies of domestic wastewater treatment by typical constructed wetlands and their greenhouse gas emissions

Three typical constructed wetlands (CWs) including Vertical Flow (VF), Free Water Surface (FWS), and Subsurface Flow (SF), and combined VF-SF-FWS constructed wetlands were investigated for the treatment of domestic wastewater with low C/N ratio. The performance of nutrient removal and the characteristics of greenhouse gas emissions, such as CH₄ and N₂O, from these CWs were compared. The results indicated that the four types of CWs had high removal efficiencies for organic matter and suspended solid (SS). The combined wetland also showed a comparatively good performance for nitrogen and phosphorus removal, and the removal efficiencies for total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) were 81.3% and 84.5%, respectively. The combined CWs had a comparative lower global warming potential. The FWS CW had the highest tendency to emit CH₄ and led to a higher global warming potential among the four types of CWs, which was about 586 mg CO₂/m²·h.     

Brown marine algae turbinaria conoides as biosorbent for Malachite green removal: Equilibrium and kinetic modeling

In this study, the biosorption of Malachite green (MG) onto Turbinaria conoides, brown marine algae, was studied with respect to initial pH, temperature, initial dye concentration, and sorbent dosage. The optimum initial pH and temperature values for MG removal were found to be 8.0 and 30°C, respectively. Sorbent dosage was found to strongly influence the removal of MG. Equilibrium studies were carried out to test the validity of the Langmuir (q _max = 66.6 mg/g and b = 0.526 mL mol/L) and the Freundlich (n = 1.826 and K = 3.751 mg/g) isotherms. The kinetic studies indicated the validity of the pseudo first-order and second-order equation.     

Pretreatment for dissolved organic nitrogen testing by gas stripping

ABSTRACT

Total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), including dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), is of significant importance in aquatic systems due to its roles in numerous environmental processes, such as nutrients for agriculture activities, sources for lake and estuary eutrophication, and one of the major factors contributing to disinfection byproduct formation. The distribution and impact of DIN on these processes are relatively well-understood; however, information on DON is extremely limited, as there is no direct method for its quantification. DON is conventionally determined by subtracting DIN from TDN. However, significant errors may be introduced if DIN is the predominant species in samples with high concentrations of TDN. In order to deal with this challenge, pretreatment method for nitrogen gas stripping was investigated using 56 water samples collected from various ecosystems. The results indicated that after nitrogen gas stripping pretreatment, removal % of ammonia nitrogen (NH₃–N) was more than 87.5%, and the ratios of removal of NH₃–N/removal of TDN (β) were over 86.5% for most of 56 samples with high [NH₃–N], indicating a high efficiency for removal of NH₃–N, and that NH₃–N was the predominant nitrogen species removed for the samples with high [NH₃–N]. Therefore, nitrogen gas stripping is an appropriate pretreatment method for DON testing when NH₃–N is the dominant inorganic nitrogen species.