New insights into denitrification and phosphorus removal with degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in two-sludge system

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have led to failure of waste water treatment plant operations. In this study, a two-sludge system was used to solve this problem of simultaneously removing phosphorus, nitrogen, and PAHs. The results showed that increasing the maximum PAHs concentration to 15 mg/L did not have any negative effect on the removal rates of total nitrogen (79.68%) and chemical oxygen demand (75.94%); however, the phosphorus removal efficiency decreased to 61.16%. The system exhibited a stronger degradation ability for phenanthrene. Thauera, Hydrogenophaga, and Hyphomicrobium were enriched, which resulted in good denitrification, and contributed to PAHs removal. PAHs mixture promoted PAHs functional genes but restrained denitrification functional genes. However, single naphthalene enhanced denitrification functional genes, which confirmed the feasibility of denitrification coupled with PAHs degradation. In conclusion, for the removal of pollutants from sewage treatment, nitrogen and phosphorus removal coupled with PAHs could be maintained by selecting a two-sludge system.