Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate removal efficiency of $NH_4-N$ using the soil column. Soil, oyster shell and natural zeolite were used as a supporting media of soil column. Removal efficiencies of $NH_4-N$ were $35.9\%,\;41\%\;and\;93.4\%$ for the soil column packed with soil, natural $zeolite(20\%)$ and oyster $shell(20\%)$ at HRT of 72 hours, respectively. The addition of $20\%$ oyster shell to the soil accelerated nitrification in soil column. The influent ammonia nitrogen was mostly converted to nitrate nitrogen in the soil column and little ammonia nitrogen was found in the effluent. When the influent $NH_4-N$ concentration was 200 mg/l, the NIL-N removal was decreased at HRT of 48 hours, while nitrification was significantly increased after mechanical aeration. It was suggested that nitrification from higher $NH_4-N$ concentration was more affected by aeration in soil column process. The number of nitrifiers was approximately in a level of about $10^6\;MPN/g{\cdot}soil$ in the soil column mixed with oyster shell ($20\%$).
