Published September 24, 2026 · Updated September 26, 2026
Two starting points
Nitrate products, most often calcium nitrate, are dosed continuously into a force main or wet well so bacteria have an oxygen source to draw on before they turn to sulfate. Bacteria in a low-oxygen line work through the oxygen sources available to them in order: dissolved oxygen first, then nitrogen compounds such as nitrate, and only once both are gone do they strip oxygen from sulfate, the reaction that produces hydrogen sulfide. Metered from a storage tank at a rate matched to flow and detention time, nitrate dosing is a genuine prevention method: it acts before hydrogen sulfide forms, not after. What it gives the bacteria is nitrogen-bound oxygen, and that nitrogen travels downstream with the flow rather than disappearing at the point where it was dosed.
DRP Accelerator is an inorganic compound that carries usable oxygen to the bacteria already living in the wastewater. We add no bacteria and no enzymes. With that oxygen available, the same bacteria take it before they ever reach for nitrate or sulfate, so hydrogen sulfide is not formed, and the oxygen also feeds the aerobic digestion of fats, oils, grease and organic sludge that a nitrogen feed does not touch. The accelerator arrives dry, is mixed and activated in a tank on site, and drips continuously into the flow at a point we survey and set, as far upstream as water and power allow.
Four things decide which one fits a given system: what each one adds to the water, when it acts relative to the moment sulfide would form, what stays behind once the job is done, and what it costs to run in capital and handling terms. Everything below works through those four questions on the same page, side by side, so the comparison is not a matter of taking either vendor’s word for it.
At a glance
| Factor | DRP Accelerator | Nitrate products |
|---|---|---|
| What is added | Usable oxygen for the bacteria already present; no bacteria or enzymes added | A nitrate compound, typically calcium nitrate |
| When it acts | Before H2S forms: bacteria take usable oxygen first and never reach sulfate | Before H2S forms: gives bacteria an alternate oxygen source to draw on ahead of sulfate |
| What stays downstream | Nothing; the accelerator is consumed as bacteria use it | Added nitrogen, tracked against the plant’s discharge limits |
| Where it reaches | Dosed as far upstream as water and power allow, into anaerobic zones aeration cannot reach | Wherever the storage tank and metering pump can dose, matched to the line’s detention time |
| FOG and sludge | Digested by the same aerobic bacteria the added oxygen supports | Left largely untouched; nitrate does not supply usable oxygen for digestion |
| Capital and handling | No capital purchase; a monthly service we run and measure | A storage tank, a metering pump and a calibration schedule owned and run on site |
| How it is measured | Baseline set first, then readings taken against it as part of the service | Feed rate matched to flow and detention time, with nitrite monitored separately |
| Markets it names | Municipal collection systems, agriculture and oil and gas | Municipal collection systems and industrial force mains with an established dosing program |
The nitrate description above is of the method in general, not any one supplier’s product. Confirm dosing specifics with your own supplier.
That table is most of the decision. If it already reads your way, contact us and we will show you the program on your own system.
Where DRP Accelerator is the stronger choice
- Nothing added stays behind. Iron, nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium based products, nitrate dosing included, can work for localized solutions, but the system that deploys them has to account for and remove what they leave behind, and calcium nitrate’s own nitrogen travels downstream with the flow, counting against a plant’s discharge limits. DRP Accelerator is completely consumed in the wastewater with no downstream adjustment or removal step: it leaves no iron, nitrogen, phosphorus or calcium behind to remove. What we look for downstream, as goals we measure, is more granular biomass, smaller and less FOG, lower BOD, and low to negligible H2S, so less corrosion.
- The same oxygen digests FOG and sludge too. Nitrate keeps bacteria off sulfate but does not put usable oxygen into the water, so fats, oils and grease and organic sludge are left largely untouched by the nitrate feed itself. The oxygen we add feeds the same aerobic bacteria that break both down, one input working on the gas, the grease and the sludge at once. A South America lift station case study shows what that looks like in BOD readings.
- No nitrogen load to track against a permit. A nitrate program adds directly to the nitrogen a plant already has to report, and the dose has to be recalculated whenever flow or detention time changes to avoid adding more than needed. We add none, which matters most at a facility working close to its own discharge limit. Our biological treatment optimization page covers that kind of plant in more detail.
- No nitrite to watch for separately. Nitrite is an intermediate step in how bacteria process nitrate and can accumulate under some dosing conditions, another parameter operators have to monitor alongside the nitrate feed itself. Our oxygen does not create that byproduct, since the bacteria use it directly rather than working it down from a nitrogen compound.
- No capital purchase, a monthly service we run and measure. A nitrate program needs a storage tank, a metering pump and a calibration schedule owned and maintained on site, along with an operator who checks it. We bring the dosing and monitoring as a service, billed monthly, with a baseline set first and readings taken against it.
- Reaches the same anaerobic zones nitrate does, without the nitrogen. Dosed as far upstream as water and power allow, the oxygen we add works in the force mains and wet wells aeration alone cannot reach, the same zones a nitrate program is built for, minus the nitrogen a nitrate program leaves behind in the water that reaches the plant.
Where nitrate dosing still has the edge
- A mature program already running. The storage tank, the metering pump, the calibration schedule and the operator who checks it are already part of daily work, with nothing new to learn, buy or install, and a track record on that specific line that a new program has not yet built.
- Predictable detention time. A long force main with steady, consistent flow makes the feed rate straightforward to calculate and hold, exactly the condition nitrate dosing is built for, since the whole method depends on matching the feed to how long the water sits in the pipe before it reaches the next lift station or the plant.
- A known, well-documented reaction. A utility that wants established chemistry with a long track record in force main odor control, and staff already trained on the equipment and the safety procedures around it, has good reason to stay with what already runs well.
Where DRP Accelerator pulls ahead is in what happens to the nitrogen, and to the fats, oils, grease and organic sludge a nitrate program never touches. A site with no complaint about either can weigh that difference at its own pace; a site fighting both, or working close to a nitrogen limit at the plant, has less reason to wait.
Already running nitrate dosing? Add DRP Accelerator upstream
Nothing has to be shut off or removed first. We review the current data, work out flow and volume, and survey the site for a delivery point as far up the flow as water and power allow, ahead of the existing nitrate feed rather than in place of it. We set a baseline before anything changes, then start the accelerator and take readings against that baseline while the nitrate program keeps running exactly as it was. Once usable oxygen is available that far upstream, the nitrate feed typically has less work left to do, since the bacteria take our oxygen before they would reach for an alternate source. Many sites reduce or retire the nitrate program once the readings hold, and some run both indefinitely if that is what the site calls for; either way the decision follows the readings, not a fixed schedule. Gas monitors and confined-space procedures stay in place throughout, no matter which product is dosing.
How to decide
- Find where the oxygen actually runs out in your system: the force main, wet well or lagoon where dissolved oxygen disappears first and bacteria start looking for another source.
- Ask what each product adds to the water and what, if anything, stays behind once the job is done, and who has to track that afterward.
- Ask what happens to the fats, oils, grease and organic sludge already building up, not only to the hydrogen sulfide, since a program that only answers one of those is only doing part of the job.
- Ask what each one costs to run in capital and handling terms, and how the result is measured against a baseline, before the first dose goes in.
Ask both vendors for the same page
Ask any nitrate supplier and ask us the same four questions: what gets added, when it acts, what stays behind, and what it costs to run in capital and handling terms. A vendor that answers all four plainly, without dodging the one about what stays behind, is worth the rest of the conversation. We will show you the dosing point we would use, the baseline we would set, and the readings we would take against it, on your own system, whether or not nitrate is already part of the picture. Contact us and we will walk through what that looks like. We say all of this in public because it is true.
A note on this comparison
This page describes nitrate dosing as a general method, not any one supplier’s product. Details vary by chemical, tank and pump, so confirm the specifics with your own supplier before buying. We are not affiliated with any nitrate supplier, and we wrote this comparison ourselves: we say the same things about DRP Accelerator here that we say everywhere else on this site.