ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A NOVEL DENITRIFYING BACTERIUM WITH HIGH NITRATE REMOVAL: PSEUDOMONAS STUTZERI

The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize a high efficiency denitrifier bacterium for reducing nitrate in wastewater. Six denitrifier bacteria with nitrate removal activities were isolated from a petrochemical industry effluent with high salinity and high nitrogen concentrations without treatment. The isolated bacteria were tested for nitrate reomoval activity. One of the bacterium displayed the highest reduction of nitrate. The strain was preliminarily identified using biochemical tests and further identified based on similarity of PCR-16S rRNA using universal primers. Biochemical and molecular experiments showed that the best bacterium with high nitrate removal potential was Pseudomonas stutzeri, a member of the ? subclass of the class Proteobacteria. The extent of nitrate removal efficiency was 99% at 200 mg/L NO3 and the nitrite content of the effluent was in the prescribed limit. The experiments showed the ability of Pseudomonas stutzeri to rapidly remove nitrate under anoxic conditions. The strain showed to be potentially good candidate for biodenitrification of high nitrate solutions.