Nitrate Treatment Methods: An Overview

Conventional water-treatment methods such as lime and soda-ash softening, filtration, and cation-exchange softening have no measurable effects on reducing nitrate concentrations in water supplies. There are, however, several methods that can be used to reduce nitrate concentrations in potable water supplies with varying degrees of efficiency. These methods include chemical precipitation, distillation, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, ion-exchange, and biodenitrification. This paper reviews the progress of nitrate treatment processes with particular emphasis on ion exchange and biodenitrification. These two methods have been used extensively in the United States and Europe.