Missing Aerobic-Phase Nitrogen: the Potential for Heterotrophic Reduction of Autotrophically Generated Nitrous Oxide in a Sequencing Batch Reactor Wastewater Treatment System

Abstract

Several biochemical pathways can induce nitrogen loss from aerated, aerobic wastewater treatment bioreactors. These pathways include "traditional" simultaneous nitrification-denitrification (SND) (i.e. autotrophic nitrification - heterotrophic denitrification), autotrophic denitrification, and anaerobic ammonia oxidation. An oxygen limitation, often expressed in terms of low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, is a common element of these pathways. The presented research investigated the effect of mixed liquor DO concentration and biomass slowly degradable carbon (SDC) utilization rate on the heterotrophic nitrous oxide (N2O) reduction rate, for biomass cultured in an anoxic/aerobic wastewater treatment bioreactor. Biomass oxygen and SDC availability-limitation, expressed in terms of DO concentration and SDC ultilization rate, respectively, were found to significantly impact the observed heterotrophic N2O reduction rate. The findings support the hypothesis that nitrogen lost from the mixed liquor of an aerobic bioreactor could result from simultaneous autotrophic N2O generation (i.e. autotrophic denitrification) and heterotrophic N2O reduction. The results also support the idea that autotrophic N2O generation could be occurring in a bioreactor, although N2O may not be measurable in the reactor off-gas. Therefore, this autotrophic N2O generation - heterotrophic N2O reduction mechanism provides an alternative explanation to nitrogen loss, when compared to "conventional" SND, where heterotrophic organisms are assumed to reduce autotrophically generated nitrite and nitrate to dinitrogen (N2). In addition, nitrogen loss speculatively attributed to N2 formation via anaerobic ammonia oxidation in oxygen-limited environments, again because of the absence of measurable N2O, may in fact be due to the autotrophic N2O generation heterotrophic N2O reduction mechanism.