Nitrogen and phosphorous are important inorganic water pollutants that pose a major threat to the environment and health of both humans and animals. The physical and chemical ways to remove these pollutants from water and soil are expensive and harsh, so biological removal becomes the method of choice to alleviate the problem without any side effects. The identification of microorganisms capable of simultaneous heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification has greatly simplified the sequestration of nitrogen from ammonium (NH4+) into dinitrogen (N2). Further, the discovery of phosphorous accumulating organisms offers greater economic benefits because these organisms can favourably and simultaneously remove both nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewaters hence reducing the nutrient burden. The stability of the system and removal efficiency of inorganic pollutants can be enhanced by the use of immobilized organisms. However, limited work has been done so far in this direction and there is a need to further the efforts towards refining process efficiency by testing low-cost substrates and diverse microbial populations for the total eradication of these contaminants from wastewaters.

中文翻译：

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磷酸盐积累微生物同时硝化-反硝化

氮和磷是重要的无机水污染物，对人类和动物的环境和健康构成重大威胁。从水和土壤中去除这些污染物的物理和化学方法既昂贵又苛刻，因此生物去除成为缓解问题的首选方法，没有任何副作用。能够同时进行异养硝化和好氧反硝化的微生物的鉴定极大地简化了从铵 (NH4+) 到二氮 (N2) 中固氮的过程。此外，蓄磷生物的发现提供了更大的经济效益，因为这些生物可以有利地同时去除废水中的氮和磷，从而减少营养负担。使用固定化生物可以提高系统的稳定性和无机污染物的去除效率。然而，到目前为止，在这个方向上所做的工作有限，需要通过测试低成本底物和不同的微生物种群来进一步提高工艺效率，以彻底根除废水中的这些污染物。