Petrochemical Wastewater Bioaugmentation: Effluent Ammonia from 8 to Below 1 mg/L in 3 Days

Results at a glance

Metric	Before	After Ammonia Treat
Effluent ammonia	5 to 8 mg/L	Below 1 mg/L
Time to result	n/a	3 days
Discharge limit (5 mg/L)	Not met	Consistently met
Prior attempts	Nitrifiers underperformed	Heterotrophic AM succeeded
COD	Elevated	Reduced (secondary benefit)

The problem

A petrochemical wastewater treatment facility was unable to consistently meet updated discharge standards requiring effluent ammonia below 5 mg/L. Effluent ammonia typically ranged between 5 and 8 mg/L despite multiple attempts using both domestic and imported nitrifying bacteria products, leaving the plant exposed to ongoing compliance risk and operational penalties. Conventional nitrification approaches failed to deliver stable ammonia removal under the facility's operating conditions, and the plant needed a bioaugmentation solution that could meet the new discharge limits without major process changes. The trial evaluated whether Ammonia Treat (AM), a high-CFU heterotrophic ammonia-reducing bacteria blend, could achieve consistent ammonia removal in petrochemical wastewater where conventional nitrifying bacteria had repeatedly underperformed.

Before, during, and after

After
Ammonia Treat (AM) microbes were applied to the petrochemical wastewater treatment system to support biological ammonia removal under existing operating conditions, with no major process changes required. Within three days, effluent ammonia dropped from the 5 to 8 mg/L baseline range to 2 mg/L, then stabilized below 1 mg/L, consistently meeting the updated discharge limits and resolving the facility's compliance exposure. Because AM contains heterotrophic, carbon-utilizing ammonia-reducing bacteria rather than conventional autotrophic nitrifiers, COD was also reduced as a secondary benefit, improving overall wastewater treatment performance and reducing organic loading on downstream processes. For petrochemical wastewater plants, refineries, and industrial facilities where conventional nitrifying bacteria have failed to deliver stable ammonia compliance, this case demonstrates what targeted heterotrophic bioaugmentation can deliver under real industrial operating conditions.

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Product used in this trial

Ammonia Treat (AM)

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