Technical Bulletin No. 0967: Summary of NCASI’s Effluent Nutrient Biodegradation Study Results

NCASI has conducted four nutrient biodegradation studies to generate information on organic nitrogen and phosphorus transformations in pulp mill final effluents. Results from these bench-top studies have been used to quantify rates of organic nitrogen and phosphorus biodegradation and to partition the fractions of organic nitrogen and phosphorus into refractory and labile components. This information provides effluent-specific nutrient parameters for use in water quality modeling, and it serves to demonstrate that significant fractions of the total organic nitrogen and phosphorus in pulp mill effluents are not bioavailable in receiving waters.