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Tertiary treatment - Denitrification

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Denitrification makes use of a specialised group of bacteria that live under anaerobic conditions and use nitrate ions as a means of oxidising carbohydrates to produce energy.

[CH₂O] and NO₃^-CO₂ and H₂O and N₂ or N₂O

In the process the nitrate ions (NO₃^-) are reduced to nitrogen (N₂) or dinitrogen oxide (N₂O).