Biological Nitrogen Removal Process Research Articles

Correlation between nitrite accumulation and the concentration of AOB in a nitritation reactor

Nitritation is an innovative biological nitrogen removal method in wastewater, and it has the advantages of energy and economy. The correlation between a nitrite conversion rate and the gene copy numbers of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in a nitritation reactor was examined to measure the effectiveness of removing a nitrogen content in a biological nitrogen removal process, using a biological process of nitritation. A laboratory scale reactor was prepared and operated for over a year, using digester supernatant to induce a stable nitritation, and to optimize the operational conditions by adjusting various operating factors. The relationship between operational results of nitritation reactor and the AOB gene copies was approximated through identification and quantitative analysis of AOB. A stable nitritation can be artificially led with the control of SRT, while treating anaerobic digester supernatant from MWTPs. And AOB gene copies showed a correlation with free ammonia (FA) inhibition and performance of nitritation, and AOB activity. Thus, AOB gene copies were found important when it comes to analyzing nitritation.

Oxygen and carbon requirements for biological nitrogen removal processes accomplishing nitrification, nitritation, and anammox.

The oxygen and carbon savings associated with novel nitrogen removal processes for the treatment of high ammonia, low biodegradable organic matter waste streams such as the recycle streams from the dewatering of anaerobically digested sludges are well documented.This understanding may lead some to think that similar oxygen savings are possible if novel processes such as nitritation/ denitritation and partial nitritation-deammonification are incorporated into main liquid stream processes where influent biodegradable organic matter is used to denitrify residual oxidized nitrogen (nitrite and nitrate). It is demonstrated that the net oxygen required for nitrogen removal is 1.71 mg O2/mg ammonia-nitrogen converted to nitrogen gas as long as influent biodegradable organic matter is used to denitrify residual oxidized nitrogen. Less oxygen is required to produce oxidized nitrogen with these novel processes, but less biodegradable organic matter is also required for oxidized nitrogen reduction to nitrogen gas, resulting in reduced oxygen savings for the oxidation of biodegradable organic matter. The net oxygen requirement is the same since the net electron transfer for the conversion of ammonia-nitrogen to nitrogen gas is the same. The biodegradable organic matter required to reduce the oxidized nitrogen to nitrogen gas is estimated for these processes based on standard biological process calculations. It is estimated to be in the range of 3.5 to 4.0 mg biodegradable COD/mg ammonia-nitrogen reduced to nitrogen gas for nitrification-denitrification, 2.0 to 2.5 for nitritation-denitritation, and 0.5 for partial nitritation-deammonification. The resulting limiting influent wastewater carbon-to-nitrogen ratios are estimated and can be used to guide the appropriate selection of biological nitrogen removal process given knowledge of the biological process influent wastewater carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. Energy savings possible for mainstream processes incorporating these novel nitrogen removal processes include reduced process oxygen requirements from reduced biodegradable carbon loadings to the biological process and the potential that plant influent biodegradable carbon can be captured upstream of the biological nitrogen removal process and used to produce energy, for example, by conversion into biogas.

ANAMMOX performance, granulation, and microbial response under COD disturbance

BACKGROUND ANAMMOX (ANaerobic AMMonium OXidation), a promising process for biological nitrogen removal, is usually affected by organic matter. In order to fully understand the effect of chemical oxygen demand (COD) on the ANAMMOX process, reactor performance, granular characteristics and microbial response were evaluated systematically under glucose stimulation. RESULTS High removal efficiencies of ammonium and total nitrogen (> 90%) were achieved with 100 mg L-1 COD concentration. ANAMMOX contribution was reduced to only 69% as COD concentration was increased to 300 mg L-1. The granulation, EPS contents, TB-EPS/LB-EPS and protein/carbohydrate were increased at a specific COD, with higher COD disrupting the biofacies structure. The results also showed that EPS distribution and microbial structure were affected by the organic disturbance. CONCLUSION An appropriate COD concentration enhanced the total nitrogen removal during ANAMMOX process, by enabling a stable synergism between ANAMMOX bacteria and heterotrophic denitrificans. Furthermore, a proper COD stimulation promoted sludge granulation by influencing EPS composition and distribution. However, excessive COD disturbance disrupted the highly efficient biofacies structure and microbial balance, which then decreased the ANAMMOX competitiveness. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry

Advanced treatment of biologically pretreated coal gasification wastewater using a novel anoxic moving bed biofilm reactor (ANMBBR)–biological aerated filter (BAF) system

A novel system integrating anoxic moving bed biofilm reactor (ANMBBR) and biological aerated filter (BAF) with short-cut biological nitrogen removal (SBNR) process was investigated as advanced treatment of real biologically pretreated coal gasification wastewater (CGW). The results showed the system had efficient capacity of degradation of pollutants especially nitrogen removal. The best performance was obtained at hydraulic residence times of 12h and nitrite recycling ratios of 200%. The removal efficiencies of COD, total organic carbon, NH4(+)-N, total phenols and total nitrogen (TN) were 74.6%, 70.0%, 85.0%, 92.7% and 72.3%, the corresponding effluent concentrations were 35.1, 18.0, 4.8, 2.2 and 13.6mg/L, respectively. Compared with traditional A(2)/O process, the system had high performance of NH4(+)-N and TN removal, especially under the high toxic loading. Moreover, ANMBBR played a key role in eliminating toxicity and degrading refractory compounds, which was beneficial to improve biodegradability of raw wastewater for SBNR process.

Simultaneous COD and Nitrogen Removal in Up-Flow Microaerobic-Oxic (M/O) Process for Domestic Wastewater Treatment

A novel process for improving the energy use and treatment efficiency of the biological nitrogen removal process, up-flow microaerobic-oxic (M/O) process which is composed of up-flow micro-aerobic and aeration was proposed based on a laboratory scale for domestic wastewater treatment, the dissolved oxygen (DO) in up-flow micro-aerobic was in the range of (0~0.5) mg/L. The M/O process performance under different hydraulic retention time (HRT) and Internal return ratio (r) was investigated. Under the optimal conditions, the average removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN) and ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) were 89.1%, 64.1%, and 96.6 % with effluent concentrations of COD, TN and NH4+-N less than 50,15 and 8mg/L, respectively. The distribution of sludge particles diameter and microbial activity of activated sludge were also measured, the mean particle diameter was in the range of 180~250μm and the SOURT was 13.11 mgO2/(gMLVSSh). Up-flow micro-aerobic (M/O) reactor has the advantages of more stable performance and better resistance to the load shock than the conventional A/O process within continuous running period of 130 days.

On‐line monitoring of a BNR process using in situ ammonium and nitrate probes and biomass nitrification‐denitrification rates in an intermittently aerated and pulse fed bioreactor

AbstractBACKGROUNDThe need to monitor and optimize biological nitrogen removal (BNR) processes has led to the use of on‐line instrumentation. In situ located sensors can monitor in a real‐time mode the dynamics of microbial processes, providing the opportunity to understand and optimize process performance.RESULTSA nitrification–denitrification process was monitored on‐line for the first time in an intermittently aerated and pulse fed activated sludge system using in situ located sensors for ammonia and nitrate. Pulse feeding created a reduced C/N ratio gradient across the anoxic phase, resulting in complete denitrification within a period of 20 min. Two denitrification rates were determined, corresponding to nitrate reduction during utilization of the readily biodegradable (0.110–0.246 g g‐1 d‐1) and the slowly (particulate) biodegradable (0.032–0.041 g g‐1 d‐1) COD, respectively. Despite the fact that the initial C/N ratio at both Food/Microorganism ratio (F/M) 0.20 and 0.28 was decreased from 4.8 to 1.8 at the end of the anoxic phase, the C/N ratio decrease was twice as fast at the higher F/M ratio.CONCLUSIONPulse‐feeding resulted in higher C/N ratios at the beginning of the anoxic phase, creating a reduced C/N ratio gradient during the denitrification period. Organic load was mostly consumed during the anoxic phase, resulting in high nitrification efficiency, low oxygen requirement and saving energy. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry

Characterization of sulfate-reducing granular sludge in the SANI® process

Hong Kong practices seawater toilet flushing covering 80% of the population. A sulfur cycle-based biological nitrogen removal process, the Sulfate reduction, Autotrophic denitrification and Nitrification Integrated (SANI®) process, had been developed to close the loop between the hybrid water supply and saline sewage treatment. To enhance this novel process, granulation of a Sulfate-Reducing Up-flow Sludge Bed (SRUSB) reactor has recently been conducted for organic removal and provision of electron donors (sulfide) for subsequent autotrophic denitrification, with a view to minimizing footprint and maximizing operation resilience. This further study was focused on the biological and physicochemical characteristics of the granular sulfate-reducing sludge. A lab-scale SRUSB reactor seeded with anaerobic digester sludge was operated with synthetic saline sewage for 368 days. At 1 h nominal hydraulic retention time (HRT) and 6.4 kg COD/m3-d organic loading rate, the SRUSB reactor achieved 90% COD and 75% sulfate removal efficiencies. Granular sludge was observed within 30 days, and became stable after 4 months of operation with diameters of 400–500 μm, SVI5 of 30 ml/g, and extracellular polymeric substances of 23 mg carbohydrate/g VSS. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis revealed that the granules were enriched with abundant sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) as compared with the seeding sludge. Pyrosequencing analysis of the 16S rRNA gene in the sulfate-reducing granules on day 90 indicated that the microbial community consisted of a diverse SRB genera, namely Desulfobulbus (18.1%), Desulfobacter (13.6%), Desulfomicrobium (5.6%), Desulfosarcina (0.73%) and Desulfovibrio (0.6%), accounting for 38.6% of total operational taxonomic units at genera level, with no methanogens detected. The microbial population and physicochemical properties of the granules well explained the excellent performance of the granular SRUSB reactor.

Characteristics and transformations of dissolved organic nitrogen in municipal biological nitrogen removal wastewater treatment plants

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) represents most of the dissolved nitrogen in the effluent of biological nitrogen removal (BNR) wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The characteristics of wastewater-derived DON in two different WWTPs were investigated by several different methods. The major removals of DON and biodegradable dissolved organic nitrogen (BDON) along the treatment train were observed in the anaerobic process. Dissolved combined amino acids (DCAA) and dissolved free amino acids (DFAA) in the effluent accounted approximately for less than 4% and 1% of the effluent DON, respectively. Approximately half of wastewater-derived DON was capable of passing through a 1 kDa ultrafilter, and low MW DON cannot effectively be removed by BNR processes. More than 80% of effluent DON was composed of hydrophilic compounds, which stimulate algal growth. The study provided important information for future upgrading of WWTPs or the selection of DON removal systems to meet more demanding nitrogen discharge limits.

Effect of influent ammonium concentration on the shift of full nitritation to partial nitrification in a sequencing batch reactor at ambient temperature

The objective of this study was to evaluate the conversion of full nitritation to partial nitrification processes by altering the influent ammonium concentration in a sequencing batch reactor at ambient temperature. After 150days’ operation, full nitritation and partial nitrification processes were successfully achieved when the influent NH4+–N concentrations up to 400 and 720mg/L, respectively. Meanwhile, sludge volumetric index (SVI) gradually decreased from 127.4 to 63.4mL/g, while the average size of sludge improved from 29.5 to 195.6μm by the strategy of reducing settling time. Ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were the dominant nitrifying bacteria according to the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis. Free ammonia (FA) and free nitrous acid (FNA) were the potential compounds for inhibiting the activity of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). The obtained results may help to promote the development of new biological nitrogen removal processes in engineering, especially in relation to nitrogen-rich wastewaters.

Field-scale application of spent sulfidic caustic as a source of alternative electron donor for autotrophic denitrification

Biological reuse of spent sulfidic caustic (SSC) originating from oil refineries is a promising method for the petrochemical industry because of low handling cost. SSC typically contains high concentrations of sulfur, with the most dominant sulfur compounds being sulfide (S(2-)). SSC is also characterized by a high pH and elevated alkalinity up to 5-15% by weight. Because of these characteristics, SSC can be used for denitrification of NO3(-)-N in the biological nitrogen removal process as both the electron donor and buffering agent in sulfur-utilizing autotrophic denitrification. In this study, two kinds of SSC (SSC I, SSC II) produced from two petrochemical companies were used for autotrophic denitrification in a field-scale wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The effluent total nitrogen (TN) concentration in this process was about 10.5 mg/L without any external carbon sources and the nitrification efficiency was low, about 93.0%, because of alkalinity deficiency in the influent. The injection of SSC I, but not SSC II, promoted nitrification efficiency, which was attributed to the difference in the NaOH/S ratio between SSC I and II. SSC was injected based on sulfide concentration of SSC required to denitrify NO3(-)-N in the WWTP. SSC I had higher NaOH/S than SSC II and thus could supply more alkalinity for nitrification than SSC II. On the other hand, additional TN removal of about 9.0% was achieved with the injection of both SSCs. However, denitrification efficiency was not proportionally increased with increasing SSC injection because of NO3(-)-N deficiency in the anoxic tank due to the limited capacity of the recycling pump. For the same reason, sulfate concentration, which is the end product of sulfur-utilizing autotrophic denitrificaiton in the effluent, was also not increased with increasing SSC injection.

Thermophilic biological nitrogen removal in industrial wastewater treatment

Nitrification is an integral part of biological nitrogen removal processes and usually the limiting step in wastewater treatment systems. Since nitrification is often considered not feasible at temperatures higher than 40°C, warm industrial effluents (with operating temperatures higher than 40°C) need to be cooled down prior to biological treatment, which increases the energy and operating costs of the plants for cooling purposes. This study describes the occurrence of thermophilic biological nitrogen removal activity (nitritation, nitratation, and denitrification) at a temperature as high as 50°C in an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant treating wastewater from an oil refinery. Using a modified two-step nitrification-two-step denitrification mathematical model extended with the incorporation of double Arrhenius equations, the nitrification (nitrititation and nitratation) and denitrification activities were described including the cease in biomass activity at 55°C. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses revealed that Nitrosomonas halotolerant and obligatehalophilic and Nitrosomonas oligotropha (known ammonia-oxidizing organisms) and Nitrospira sublineage II (nitrite-oxidizing organism (NOB)) were observed using the FISH probes applied in this study. In particular, this is the first time that Nitrospira sublineage II, a moderatedly thermophilic NOB, is observed in an engineered full-scale (industrial) wastewater treatment system at temperatures as high as 50°C. These observations suggest that thermophilic biological nitrogen removal can be attained in wastewater treatment systems, which may further contribute to the optimization of the biological nitrogen removal processes in wastewater treatment systems that treat warm wastewater streams.

Distribution and characterization of anammox in a swine wastewater activated sludge facility

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is a novel biological nitrogen removal process that oxidizes NH4(+) to N2 with NO2(-) as an electron acceptor. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential activity and characteristics of anammox in a conventional swine wastewater treatment facility, which uses an activated sludge system consisting of three cascade aeration tanks equipped with ceramic support material. Anammox activity was estimated by a (15)N tracer assay method and was detected in all the sludge and biofilm samples in each aeration tank. Biofilm taken from the third aeration tank, in which the dissolved oxygen concentration was 7.5 mg/L and the wastewater included a high concentration of NO3(-), showed by far the highest anammox activity. A clone library analysis showed the existence of anammox bacteria closely related to 'Candidatus Jettenia asiatica' and 'Ca. Brocadia caroliniensis'. The optimum conditions for anammox activity were a pH of 6.7-7.2, a temperature of 35 °C, a NO2(-) concentration of 10 mmol/L or less, and an NH4(+) concentration of 32 mmol/L or less.

Application of ultrasound and air stripping for the removal of aromatic hydrocarbons from spent sulfidic caustic for use in autotrophic denitrification as an electron donor

Spent sulfidic caustic (SSC) produced from petroleum industry can be reused to denitrify nitrate-nitrogen via a biological nitrogen removal process as an electron donor for sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification, because it has a large amount of dissolved sulfur. However, SSC has to be refined because it also contains some aromatic hydrocarbons, typically benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene (BTEX) and phenol that are recalcitrant organic compounds. In this study, laboratory-scale ultrasound irradiation and air stripping treatment were applied in order to remove these aromatic hydrocarbons. In the ultrasound system, both BTEX and phenol were exponentially removed by ultrasound irradiation during 60 min of reaction time to give the greatest removal efficiency of about 80%. Whereas, about 95% removal efficiency of BTEX was achieved, but not any significant phenol removal, within 30 min in the air stripping system, indicating that air stripping was a more efficient method than ultrasound irradiation. However, since air stripping did not remove any significant phenol, an additional process for degrading phenol was required. Accordingly, we applied a combined ultrasound and air stripping process. In these experiments, the removal efficiencies of BTEX and phenol were improved compared to the application of ultrasound and air stripping alone. Thus, the combined ultrasound and air stripping treatment is appropriate for refining SSC.

High-Rate, High-Yield Production of Methanol by Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria

The overall goal of this study was to develop an appropriate biological process for achieving autotrophic conversion of methane (CH(4)) to methanol (CH3OH). In this study, we employed ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) to selectively and partially oxidize CH(4) to CH(3)OH. In fed-batch reactors using mixed nitrifying enrichment cultures from a continuous bioreactor, up to 59.89 ± 1.12 mg COD/L of CH(3)OH was produced within an incubation time of 7 h, which is approximately ten times the yield obtained previously using pure cultures of Nitrosomonas europaea. The maximum specific rate of CH(4) to CH(3)OH conversion obtained during this study was 0.82 mg CH(3)OH COD/mg AOB biomass COD-d, which is 1.5 times the highest value reported with pure cultures. Notwithstanding these positive results, CH(4) oxidation to CH(3)OH by AOB was inhibited by NH(3) (the primary substrate for the oxidative enzyme, ammonia monooxygenase, AMO) as well as the product, CH(3)OH, itself. Further, oxidation of CH(4) to CH(3)OH by AOB was also limited by reducing equivalents supply, which could be overcome by externally supplying hydroxylamine (NH(2)OH) as an electron donor. Therefore, a potential optimum design for promoting CH(4) to CH(3)OH oxidation by AOB could involve supplying NH(3) (needed to maintain AMO activity) uncoupled from the supply of NH(2)OH and CH(4). Partial oxidation of CH(4)-containing gases to CH3OH by AOB represents an attractive platform for the conversion of a gaseous mixture to an aqueous compound, which could be used as a commodity chemical. Alternately, the nitrate and CH(3) OH thus produced could be channeled to a downstream anoxic zone in a biological nitrogen removal process to effect nitrate reduction to N(2), using an internally produced organic electron donor.

Partial Nitrification in Microaerobic Tank of “Anoxic-Anaerobic- Microaerobic-Aerobic (A<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>)” Biological Nitrogen Removal Process

The pilot-scale Anoxic-Anaerobic-Microaerobic-Aerobic (A2O2) biological nitrogen removal process was used to treat the wastewater from nitrogenous fertilizer production with C/N ratio of 1~2. Batch tests were conducted to investigate the patial nitrification using the activated sludge from the microaerobic tank rich in nitrite bacteria as the experimental object. Results showed that 95% removal efficiency of NH3-N could be obtained with the HRT of 30 h. The SVI affected the NH3-N removal rate and the optimal SVI was 106 mL/g. The ORP was well correlated with the logarithm of NH3-N concentration with the linear regression equation of y=-57.233x+3.308. Moreover, the kinetic model for partial nitrification was determined as v=4.762s/(9.86+s).

Simultaneous autotrophic & heterotrophic denitrification by the injection of reformed spent sulfidic caustic (SSC) in a pilot-scale sewage treatment plant

Spent sulfidic caustic (SSC), produced from petroleum plants, contains high levels of H2S and alkalinity. It can be used to denitrify nitrate-nitrogen via a biological nitrogen removal process, as both the electron donor and buffering agent for sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification. However, SSC also contains some recalcitrant organic compounds such as BTEX, so it has to be refined. To remove BTEX, air stripping was conducted in a laboratory scale, and as a result, over 93% of the BTEX were removed within 30min. For the reformation of the refined SSC, Na2S2O3 · 5H2O, methanol and organic material, produced from a biodiesel production plant, were supplemented, and referred to as new sulfidic caustic I (NSCI), II (NSCII), III (NSCIII), respectively. Thereafter, these products were applied to a modified Ludzack-Ettinger (MLE) process to evaluate their effects on the effluent COD and TN concentrations. As a result, there was no increase in the COD level on the injection of NSC due to the removal of BTEX via air stripping. In addition, compared to no NSC injection, 44.0% more TN was removed with an injection of NSC III, which were the most effective conditions. Thus, the application of NSC to the biological nitrogen removal process was successfully performed. These results may contribute to the development of resource recovery technology.

Modeling the fate and effect of benzalkonium chlorides in a continuous-flow biological nitrogen removal system treating poultry processing wastewater

The fate and effect of the antimicrobial compounds benzalkonium chlorides (BACs) on the biological nitrogen removal (BNR) processes for a continuous-flow, three-stage laboratory-scale BNR system were modeled. Three kinetic sub-models, corresponding to each reactor, were developed and then combined in a comprehensive ASM1-based model. Kinetic parameters for the three sub-models were evaluated using experimental data obtained from independent batch assays. The biodegradation of BACs was modeled with a mixed-substrate Monod equation. The inhibitory effect of BACs on the utilization of degradable COD and denitrification was modeled as competitive inhibition, whereas non-competitive inhibition was used to model the effect of BACs on nitrification and inhibition coefficients were evaluated. The model simulated well the long-term performance of the BNR system treating a poultry processing wastewater with and without BACs. Enhanced BAC degradation by heterotrophs and increased resistance of nitrifiers to BACs, reflecting acclimation/enrichment over time, is a salient feature of the model.

A DO- and pH-Based Early Warning System of Nitrification Inhibition for Biological Nitrogen Removal Processes

In Korea, more than 80% of municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with capacities of 500 m3·d−1 or more are capable of removing nitrogen from wastewater through biological nitrification and denitrification processes. Normally, these biological processes show excellent performance, but if a toxic chemical is present in the influent to a WWTP, the biological processes (especially, the nitrification process) may be affected and fail to function normally; nitrifying bacteria are known very vulnerable to toxic substances. Then, the toxic compound as well as the nitrogen in wastewater may be discharged into a receiving water body without any proper treatment. Moreover, it may take significant time for the process to return back its normal state. In this study, a DO- and pH-based strategy to identify potential nitrification inhibition was developed to detect early the inflow of toxic compounds to a biological nitrogen removal process. This strategy utilizes significant changes observed in the oxygen uptake rate and the pH profiles of the mixed liquor when the activity of nitrifying bacteria is inhibited. Using the strategy, the toxicity from test wastewater with 2.5 mg·L−1 Hg2+, 0.5 mg·L−1 allythiourea, or 0.25 mg·L−1 chloroform could be successfully detected.

Minimization of nitrous oxide emission from anoxic–oxic biological nitrogen removal process: Effect of influent COD/NH4+ ratio and feeding strategy

Nitrous oxide (N(2)O) is an important greenhouse gas and biological nitrogen removal process of wastewater treatment plant is one of its sources. Mechanisms of N(2)O emissions from anoxic-oxic biological nitrogen removal process were investigated and minimizations of N(2)O emissions were carried out from the aspect of organic carbon supplement, i.e., influent COD/NH4+ ratio (C/N ratio) and feeding strategy. Results showed that during anoxic-oxic biological nitrogen removal process, most of the N(2)O emissions occurred during the oxic phase, and both nitrifier denitrification and aerobic hydroxylamine oxidation pathways were possible mechanisms responsible for N(2)O emissions. N(2)O conversion rate decreased from 6.0% to 1.3% when the influent C/N ratio was increased from 7.5 to 14.5. This was mainly because of decrease in the abundance of Nitrosomonas-like ammonia oxidizing bacteria. Step feeding and external carbon source addition could reduce N(2)O conversion rate by 66.6% and 12.0%, respectively. Both of them were feasible methods for minimizing N(2)O emission from wastewater treatment process. The low N(2)O emission of step feeding was because of its high dissolved oxygen (DO) and low ammonium concentrations during the oxic phase, while the minimization effect of external carbon source addition was ascribed to its high nitrogen removal efficiency.

Impact of carbon source on nitrous oxide emission from anoxic/oxic biological nitrogen removal process and identification of its emission sources

Wastewater treatment is an important source of nitrous oxide (N(2)O), which is a strong greenhouse gas and dominate ozone-depleting substance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of carbon source on N(2)O emission from anoxic/oxic biological nitrogen removal process. The mechanisms of N(2)O emission were also studied. Long-term experiments were operated to evaluate the effect of three different carbon sources (i.e., glucose, sodium acetate, and soluble starch) on N(2)O emission characteristics. And batch experiments, in the presence or absence of specific inhibitors, were carried out to identify the sources of N(2)O emission. The ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and denitrifiers community compositions under different circumstances were also analyzed based on which the underlying mechanisms of N(2)O emission were elucidated. The conversion ratios of N(2)O in reactors with glucose, sodium acetate, and soluble starch were 5.3 %, 8.8 %, and 2.8 %, respectively. The primary process responsible for N(2)O emission was nitrifier denitrification by Nitrosomonas-like AOB, while denitrification by heterotrophic denitrifiers acted as the sink. Reactor with sodium acetate showed the highest N(2)O emission, together with the highest nitrogen and phosphate removal ratios. Carbon source has a significant impact on N(2)O emission quantity and relatively minor effect on its production mechanism.