Effect of Hydroxylamine on Community of ANAMMOX Sludge

Abstract

At present, the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX) process has the advantages of high efficiency, low energy consumption, and low sludge quantity, and it therefore has broad application prospects in sewage nitrogen removal. Hydroxylamine is not only an intermediate product of ANAMMOX metabolism but also an inhibitor. However, the effect of hydroxylamine on the activity of ANAMMOX is not clear. Therefore, we investigated the ANAMMOX activity under the condition of adding different concentrations of hydroxylamine (40-80 mg·L-1) through a hydroxylamine batch experiment. It was found that hydroxylamine can inhibit ANAMMOX activity. However, it was impossible to determine the threshold of ANAMMOX bacteria to hydroxylamine. Next, the mRNA levels of hydrazine oxidase (HZO) in different reactors were detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and it was found that the expression levels of HZO peak and then decrease with an increase of hydroxylamine concentration. It was suggested that the tolerated hydroxylamine concentration was within 60-70 mg·L-1 for 3.12 g·L-1 ANAMMOX granular sludge. Moreover, a 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing method was used to analyze the structure and function of ANAMMOX granules in microbial communities in the reactor. It was found that the addition of an appropriate concentration of hydroxylamine (50 mg·L-1) helped to enhance the cellular motility of bacteria and promoted the composition of ANAMMOX bacteria, providing a better ecological balance.