The feasibility of using a two-stage autotrophic nitrogen removal process to treat sewage

Achieving advanced nitrogen removal from mature landfill leachate in continuous flow system involving partial nitrification-anammox and denitrification

Considering the challenges associated with nitrogen removal from mature landfill leachate, a novel combined continuous-flow process integrating denitrification and partial nitrification-Anammox (PN/A) was developed using an internal circulation (IC) system and a biological aerated filter (BAF) biofilm reactor (IBBR). In this study, IBBR successfully operated for 343 days, and when influent NH4+-N concentration of mature landfill leachate reached 1258.1 mg/L, an impressive total nitrogen removal efficiency (TNRE) of 93.3 % was achieved, along with a nitrogen removal rate (NRR) of 1.13 kg N/(m3·d). The analysis of the microbial community revealed that Candidatus Kuenenia, the dominant genus responsible for anammox, accounted for 1.7 % (day 265). Additionally, Nitrosomonas, Thauera and Truepera were identified as key contributors to the efficient removal of nitrogen from mature landfill. As a novel nitrogen removal strategy, the practical application of the IBBR system offers novel perspectives on addressing mature landfill leachate.

Comparison of typical nitrite oxidizing bacteria suppression strategies and the effect on nitrous oxide emissions in a biofilm reactor

In mainstream partial nitritation/anammox (PN/A), suppression of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and mitigation of N2O emissions are two essential operational goals. The N2O emissions linked to three typical NOB suppression strategies were tested in a covered rotating biological contactor (RBC) biofilm system at 21 °C: (i) low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations, and treatments with (ii) free ammonia (FA), and (iii) free nitrous acids (FNA). Low emerged DO levels effectively minimized NOB activity and decreased N2O emissions, but NOB adaptation appeared after 200 days of operation. Further NOB suppression was successfully achieved by periodic (3 h per week) treatments with FA (29.3 ± 2.6 mg NH3-N L-1) or FNA (3.1 ± 0.3 mg HNO2-N L-1). FA treatment, however, promoted N2O emissions, while FNA did not affect these. Hence, biofilm PN/A should be operated at relatively low DO levels with periodic FNA treatment to maximize nitrogen removal efficiency while avoiding high greenhouse gas emissions.

Sidestream bio-P and mainstream anammox in a BNR process with upstream carbon capture

The integration of biological phosphorus removal (bio-P) and shortcut nitrogen removal (SNR) processes is challenging because of the conflicting demands on influent carbon: SNR allows for upstream carbon diversion, but this reduction of influent carbon (especially volatile fatty acids [VFAs]) prevents or limits bio-P. The objective of this study was to achieve SNR, either via partial nitritation/anammox (PNA) or partial denitrification/anammox (PdNA), simultaneously with biological phosphorus removal in a process with upstream carbon capture. This study took place in a pilot scale A/B process with a sidestream bio-P reactor and tertiary anammox polishing. Despite low influent rbCOD concentrations from the A-stage effluent, bio-P occurred in the B-stage thanks to the addition of A-stage WAS fermentate to the sidestream reactor. Nitrite accumulation occurred in the B-stage via partial denitrification and partial nitritation (NOB out-selection), depending on operational conditions, and was removed along with ammonia by the tertiary anammox MBBR, with the ability to achieve effluent TIN less than 2 mg/L. PRACTITIONER POINTS: A sidestream reactor with sufficient fermentate addition enables biological phosphorus removal in a B-stage system with little-to-no influent VFA. Enhanced biological phosphorus removal is not inhibited by intermittent aeration and is stable at a wide range of process SRTs. Partial nitritation and partial denitrification are viable routes to produce nitrite within an A/B process with sidestream bio-P, for downstream anammox in a polishing MBBR.

Insights on pretreatment technologies for partial nitrification/anammox processes: A critical review and future perspectives

For almost 20 years, partial nitrification-anammox (PN/A) has been the subject of intensive study and development. Pretreatment of wastewater for PN/A is crucial because the inhibitory substances in the influent may reduce the performance of PN/A. In this review, the current PN/A pretreatment technologies are comprehensively summarized. The selection of pretreatment technology for PN/A depending on the source of the wastewater and its main characteristics (high-strength wastewater or municipal wastewater, organic matters, suspended solids). Comparison of pretreatment technologies through multiple perspectives including wastewater characteristics, the objectives of the wastewater treatment (treating requirement, energy and resource recovery demand), reactor configuration of PN/A. Based on the discussion, two integrated processes, HRAS + one-stage PN/A and advanced AD + two-stage PN/A, are recommended as the preferred processes for treating municipal wastewater and wastewater with a high-strength ammonium, respectively. This review aims to provide guidance for future research and development of PN/A.

Achieving advanced nitrogen removal from low-carbon municipal wastewater using partial-nitrification/anammox and endogenous partial-denitrification/anammox

To achieve advanced nitrogen removal from low-carbon wastewater, a partial-nitrification/anammox and endogenous partial-denitrification/ anammox (PN/A-EPD/A) process was developed in a sequential batch biofilm reactor (SBBR). Advanced nitrogen was achieved with the effluent total nitrogen (TN) of 3.29 mg/L when the influent COD/TN and the TN were 2.86 and 59.59 mg/L, respectively. This was attributed to a stable PN/A-EPD/A, which was achieved through the integration of four strategies, including treating the inoculated sludge with free nitrous acid, inoculating anammox biofilm, discharging excess activated sludge and residual ammonium at the end of oxic stage. The 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing results demonstrated that anammox bacteria coexisted with ammonia oxidizing bacteria, nitrite oxidizing bacteria, denitrifying glycogen accumulating organisms (DGAOs) and denitrifying phosphorus accumulating organisms (DPAOs) in biofilms. The abundance of anammox bacteria in the inner layer of the biofilm is higher, while that of DGAOs and DPAOs is higher in the outer layer.

Towards advanced simultaneous nitrogen removal and phosphorus recovery from digestion effluent based on anammox-hydroxyapatite (HAP) process: Focusing on a solution perspective

In this paper, the state-of-the-art information on the anammox-HAP process is summarized. The mechanism of this process is systematically expounded, the enhancement of anammox retention by HAP precipitation and the upgrade of phosphorus recovery by anammox process are clarified. However, this process still faces several challenges, especially how to deal with the ∼ 11% nitrogen residues and to purify the recovered HAP. For the first time, an anaerobic fermentation (AF) combined with partial denitrification (PD) and anammox-HAP (AF-PD-Anammox-HAP) process is proposed to overcome the challenges. By AF of the organic impurities of the anammox-HAP granular sludge, organic acid is produced to be used as carbon source for PD to remove the nitrogen residues. Simultaneously, pH of the solution drops, which promotes the dissolution of some inorganic purities such as CaCO₃. In this way, not only the inorganic impurities are removed, but the inorganic carbon is supplied for anammox bacteria.

In a quest for high-efficiency mainstream partial nitritation-anammox (PN/A) implementation: One-stage or two-stage?

Partial nitritation-anammox (PN/A) process is known as an energy-efficient technology for wastewater nitrogen removal, which possesses a great potential to bring wastewater treatment plants close to energy neutrality with reduced carbon footprint. To achieve this goal, various PN/A processes implemented in a single reactor configuration (one-stage system) or two separately dedicated reactors configurations (two-stage system) were explored over the past decades. Nevertheless, large-scale implementation of these PN/A processes for low-strength municipal wastewater treatment has a long way to go owing to the low efficiency and effectiveness in nitrogen removal. In this work, we provided a comprehensive analysis of one-stage and two-stage PN/A processes with a focus on evaluating their engineering application potential towards mainstream implementation. The difficulty for nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) out-selection was revealed as the critical operational challenge to achieve the desired effluent quality. Additionally, the operational strategies of low oxygen commonly adopted in one-stage systems for NOB suppression and facilitating anammox bacteria growth results in a low nitrogen removal rate (NRR). Introducing denitrification into anammox system was found to be necessary to improve the nitrogen removal efficiency (NRE) by reducing the produced nitrate with in-situ utilizing the organics from wastewater itself. However, this may lead to part of organics oxidized with additional oxygen consumed in one-stage system, further compromising the NRR. By applying a relatively high dissolved oxygen in PN reactor with residual ammonium control, and followed by a granules-based anammox reactor feeding with a small portion of raw municipal wastewater, it appeared that two-stage system could achieve a good effluent quality as well as a high NRR. In contrast to the widely studied one-stage system, this work provided a unique perspective that more effort should be devoted to developing a two-stage PN/A process to evaluate its application potential of high efficiency and economic benefits towards mainstream implementation.

Stable enhanced nitrogen removal from low COD/N municipal wastewater via partial nitrification-anammox in the traditional continuous anoxic/oxic process through bio-augmentation of partial nitrification sludge under decreasing temperatures

The application of partial nitrification-anammox (PNA) in continuous flow processes for treating low COD/N (C/N) sewage remains a critical challenge. Here, a traditional continuous anoxic/oxic (A/O) process was operated to investigate nitrogen removal from municipal wastewater by the bio-augmentation of partial nitrification sludge combined with the inoculation of biocarriers under decreasing temperatures. Stable enhanced nitrogen removal via PNA was achieved. The average total inorganic nitrogen in influent and effluent was 44.3 and 7.1 mg N/L under a low C/N ratio (3.4) and a short hydraulic retention time (8.2 h). The bio-augmentation of partial nitrification sludge enhanced the PNA process under low temperatures (16.9 ± 0.6 °C). The nitrogen removal efficiency remained stable at 83.3 ± 5.7 % as the temperature decreased from 29.1 to 16.3 °C, and the relative abundance of Ca. Brocadia in carrier biofilms increased from 2.22 % to 4.31 % and 3.27 % in two aerobic chambers after 70 days of operation.

Enhanced nitrogen removal from municipal wastewater via a novel combined process driven by partial nitrification/anammox (PN/A) and partial denitrification/anammox (PD/A) with an ultra-low hydraulic retention time (HRT)

Anaerobic ammonia oxidation (Anammox) is a highly productive research area in municipal wastewater treatment. A novel combined process driven by partial nitrification/anammox (PN/A) and partial denitrification/anammox (PD/A) was established in this paper using a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and two up-flow sludge beds (USBs). Municipal wastewater after carbon removal pretreatment in SBR entered PN/A-USB. PN/A process was initiated and enhanced by optimizing the intermittent aeration mode under low dissolved oxygen (DO). After enhancing and stabilizing the PD/A process, PN/A effluent entered the PD/A-USB along with raw municipal wastewater at a ratio of 4:1 and the combined system was established. Through this, this study achieved a nitrogen removal efficiency (NRE) of 84.9 % from municipal wastewater at an ultra-low total hydraulic residence time (HRT) of 3.9 h. Candidatus Brocadia (1.8 % in PN/A, 1.0 % in PD/A) was the only functional anammox bacterium in the combined process.

Achieving PN through the selective recovery of AOB activity in inactivated nitrifying bacteria: Combined aerobic starvation and FA

A novel strategy combining aerobic starvation and free ammonia (FA) was proposed to achieve partial nitrification (PN). The impact of the combined strategy on nitrifying bacteria was explored in a 200-day experiment. The effluent concentration of ammonia was below the detection limits (0.1 mg/L), and the effluent concentration of nitrite and nitrate was 68.12 mg/L and 3.46 mg/L without adding carbon source to the artificial wastewater. The nitrite accumulation rate (NAR) was maintained at 90.15% even when the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration was 1.50 mg/L. Further analysis showed that PN was achieved by selectively restoring the activity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in nitrifying bacteria that had lost their activity after starvation. The specific ammonia oxidation rate (SAOR) was 46.25 mg N/g MLVSS/h, and the specific nitrate product rate (SNPR) was only 0.73 mg N/g MLVSS/h in the stable operation stage. The increase in AOB abundance (from 2.79% to 7.13%) and the decrease in nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) abundance (from 8.75% to 1.44%) explained this phenomenon. Finally, the analyses on the secretion of extracellular polymer substance (EPS), strategies to resist harsh environments, and physical properties of sludge explored the potential mechanism and provided references for applying the combined strategy.

Achieving partial denitrification using organic matter in brewery wastewater as carbon source

To find a cost-effective carbon source for partial denitrification (PD), brewery wastewater was utilized to test the viability of initiating PD. The S_bre (sludge from the biological treatment tank of Tsingtao Brewery Plant sewage treatment station) and S_lab (sludge from laboratory) were fed with brewery wastewater at COD_Cr/NO₃^--N (C/N) ratios of 8.0-10.0 and 5.0 for 95 days at 25 ± 1 °C, respectively. The mean NO₃^--N to NO₂^--N transformation ratio (NTR) in long-term operation was 40.0% in the S_bre system and 83.2% in the S_lab system. Batch tests with C/N ratio of 2.2-4.4 were  conducted after 95 days incubation and the result suggested that C/N ratio of 4.3 ± 0.1 contributed more to NO₂^--N accumulation in both systems. Thauera bacteria, known to be beneficial for NO₂^--N accumulation, became the dominant community. The relative abundances of Thauera on day 95 in the S_bre and S_lab system were 83.36% and 79.11%, respectively.

Metabolic patterns reveal enhanced anammox activity at low nitrogen conditions in the integrated I-ABR

Substrate concentrations greatly influence bacterial growth and metabolism. However, optimal nitrogen concentrations for anammox bacteria in nitrogen-limited environments remain unclear. Here, we observed enhanced nitrogen metabolism and anabolism of anammox bacteria at low nitrogen conditions. Efficient nitrogen removal was achieved at ammonium and nitrite influent concentration of 30 mg/L under HRT of 1 hr, with an average nitrogen removal rate (NRR) of 0.73 kg N/(m³ ·day) in I-ABR composed of four compartments. The highest anammox activity of 6.25 mmol N/ (gVSS·hr) was observed in the fourth compartment (C4) with the lowest substrate levels (ammonium and nitrite of 11.6 mg/L and 7 mg/L). This could be resulted from the highest expression level of genes involved in nitrogen metabolism in C4, which was 1.49-1.67 times higher than that in other compartments. Besides, the second compartment (C2) exhibited the most active anabolism at ammonium and nitrite of 17 mg/L and 13 mg/L, respectively, which contributed to the most active amino acid synthesis and thus the highest EPS (1.35 times higher) in C2. This enhanced amino acid auxotrophy between anammox bacteria with heterotrophs, and consequently, heterotrophs thrived and competed for nitrite. These results hint at the potential application of anammox process in micro-polluted water. PRACTITIONER POINTS: High nitrogen removal and efficient biomass retention at low nitrogen concentrations under short HRT was achieved in I-ABR. Optimal concentrations for anammox nitrogen removal and anabolism were discussed under low nitrogen concentrations. More active anabolism contributed to enhanced amino acid synthesis and thus higher EPS contents. Low substrate levels led to enhanced expression of genes involved in nitrogen metabolism and thus high anammox activity.

Nitrogen removal performance using anaerobic ammonium oxidation considering variable conditions

The anaerobic nitrogen removal performance of anammox at 30°C, 25°C, and 16°C were studied by using the UASB (Up flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) reactor and the influent concentration of NH4+-N and NO2--N were 16.9 and 20.6 mg L-1 respectively. Experimental results showed that high-efficiency anammox nitrogen removal could be achieved at 30°C, when hydraulic retention time (HRT) was 0.14 h, the nitrogen removal rate (NRR) was 5.73 kg N m-3 d-1. The anammox reactor operated stably for more than 80 days under the condition of 16°C-20°C, and the high NRR of 2.78 kg N m-3 d-1 was obtained. In this experiment, DO had little effect on the activity of anammox granular sludge, and the nitrogen removal performance could be quickly recovered in a short period of time after being affected by DO. Moreover, the stoichiometric ratio of NO2--N and NH4+-N consumption (ΔNO2--N/ΔNH4+-N) and the stoichiometric ratio of NO3--N production and NH4+-N conversion (ΔNO3--N/ΔNH4+-N) were 1.21 ± 0.11and 0.25 ± 0.06 respectively at 30°C, which were very close to the theoretical value, it indicated that anammox bacteria were the dominant bacteria at 30°C.

Fast start-up of PN/A process in a single-stage packed bed and mechanism of nitrogen removal

The single-stage partial nitritation-anammox (PN/A) process is severely limited by a long start-up time and unstable removal efficiency. In this study, PN/A was developed in 67 days in a novel packed bed equipped with porous bio-carriers by gradually increasing the influent nitrogen loading rate (0.15-0.73 kg-N m^-3·d^-1) and controlling the dissolved oxygen (< 1.2 mg L^-1). An average ammonium nitrogen removal efficiency (ARE) and total nitrogen removal efficiency (TNR) of 87.01 and 72.41%, respectively, were obtained. This represents a reliable alternative method of achieving rapid PN/A start-up. The results of 16S rRNA sequencing showed that Proteobacteria and Planctomycetes, with which ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and anammox bacteria were affiliated, accounted for 38.8%, representing the dominant phylum in the system after acclimation. The abundance of Nitrosomonas and Candidatus Brocadia increased by 16 and 1.79%, respectively. The results of metagenomics and metatranscriptomics revealed that the nitrite oxidation process was blocked by the transcriptional suppression of nitrite oxidoreductase and the entire nitrogen metabolism process was dominated by the partial nitritation and anammox process. Moreover, a high abundance of heterotrophic bacteria with potential for nitrogen removal was detected. In the nitrogen cycle, a widespread nitrite-accumulated denitrification helps to form a nitrite loop, which promotes the efficiency of total nitrogen removal. This is crucial for further improving the nitrogen removal mechanism in the PN/A system.

Responses of microbial structures, functions, metabolic pathways and community interactions to different C/N ratios in aerobic nitrification

The responses of microbial structures, functional profiles and metabolic pathways during nitrification to four C/N ratios (0, 5, 10 and 15) were investigated in four parallel SBRs denoted as S₀, S₅, S₁₀, S₁₅. Results indicated that microbial diversities were affected by C/N ratios, while the same dominant taxa were observed, mainly including Proteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Rhodocyclales, Rhodocyclaceae, Zoogloea. The unique biomarkers were identified in each sludge sample through LEfSe analysis. Functional genera/enzymes responsible for removing organics and nitrogen coexisted in four SBRs at different abundances, except for that ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) Nitrosomonas (0.33%-0.66%) and ammonia monooxygenase (amo) (9.4 × 10^-7-2.8 × 10^-6) were only detected in S₀. Moreover, PICRUSt analysis indicated similar overall patterns of metabolic pathways in four sludge samples. The network analysis revealed that total nitrogen removal positively correlated with hcp (Spearman's ρ of 0.853), and ammonia oxidizing rate was associated with amo (Spearman's ρ of 0.096).

Progress in Nitrogen Removal in Bioelectrochemical Systems

Nitrogenous compounds attract great attention because of their environmental impact and harmfulness to the health of human beings. Various biological technologies have been developed to reduce the environmental risks of nitrogenous pollutants. Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) are considered to be a novel biological technology for removing nitrogenous contaminants by virtue of their advantages, such as low energy requirement and capacity for treating wastewaters with a low C/N ratio. Therefore, increasing attention has been given to carry out biological processes related to nitrogen removal with the aid of cathodic biofilms in BESs. Prior studies have evaluated the feasibility of conventional biological processes including nitrification, denitrification, and anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox), separately or combined together, to remove nitrogenous compounds with the help of BESs. The present review summarizes the progress of developments in BESs in terms of the biological process, cathodic biofilm, and affecting factors for efficient nitrogen removal.

Achieving stable two-stage mainstream partial-nitrification/anammox (PN/A) operation via intermittent aeration

The mainstream anammox process has attracted extensive attention recently. Compared to single-stage partial-nitrification/anammox (PN/A) system, two-stage PN/A process was more advantageous for achieving mainstream anammox. However, complex control strategy in partial-nitrification reactor (N-SBR) might not be feasible in practical application. The aim of this study was to provide an easy operation strategy to achieve two-stage PN/A process. Firstly, intermittent aeration was investigated to achieve 100% conversion of ammonium to nitrite in N-SBR. The effluent nitrite concentrations increased from 19.96 to 38.62 mg/L when intermittent aeration ratio (IAC) varied from 30 min/30 min-30 min/15 min. During 125 d's operation of N-SBR, stable partial nitrification performance was obtained through intermittent aeration, without coupling with low dissolve oxygen or short sludge retention time. Then, raw municipal wastewater was directly mixed with N-SBR effluent to provide suitable feed to anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (A-SBR).When the mixture ratio between the raw wastewater and the N-SBR effluent was 2.5, the effluent ammonium and total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) was only 0.97 and 2.52 mg N/L, respectively. Additionally, carbon-based pollutants was also removed in the proposed system without any pretreatment, which made the process easier to operate in practice.

Characterization of the start-up of single and two-stage Anammox processes with real low-strength wastewater treatment

In order to promote the application of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) for municipal wastewater treatment, single and two-stage Anammox processes were started up for real low-strength wastewater treatment under similar conditions for the comparison. Results showed that the anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR)-Nitritation-Anammox and the ABR-Completely Autotrophic Nitrogen removal Over Nitrite (CANON) process took 75 days and 101 days to start up with a total nitrogen removal rate of 86-92% and 81-87% under steady state, respectively. The 16 S rRNA sequencing analysis revealed that the phylum of Proteobacteria dominated in CANON system and Anammox system with the relative abundance of 35.39% and 15.27%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Anammox species, related to Ca. Brocadia Sinica JPN1 and Ca. Kuenenia stuttgartiensis, dominated in these two systems, respectively. The nitrogen removal performance of two-stage process was 5% higher than that of single stage process, while the start-up period and dominated Anammox species were different.

Model-based investigation of membrane biofilm reactors coupling anammox with nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation

An innovative process coupling anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) with nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (n-DAMO) in membrane biofilm reactors (MBfRs) has been developed to achieve high-level nitrogen removal from both sidestream (i.e., anaerobic digestion liquor) and mainstream (i.e., domestic strength) wastewater. In this study, a 1D biofilm model embedding the n-DAMO and anammox reactions was developed to facilitate further understanding of the process and its optimization. The model was calibrated and validated using comprehensive data sets from two independent MBfRs, treating sidestream- and mainstream-strength wastewater, respectively. Modelling results revealed a unique biofilm stratification. While anammox bacteria dominated throughout the biofilm, n-DAMO archaea (coupling nitrate reduction with anaerobic methane oxidation) only occurred at the inner layer and n-DAMO bacteria (coupling nitrite reduction with anaerobic methane oxidation) spread more evenly with a slightly higher fraction in the outer layer. The established MBfRs were robust against dynamic influent flowrates and nitrite/ammonium ratios. Thicker biofilms were beneficial for not only the total nitrogen (TN) removal but also the system robustness. Additionally, a positive correlation between the nitrogen removal efficiency and the residual methane emission was observed, as a result of higher methane partial pressure required. However, there was a threshold of methane partial pressure, above which the residual methane increased but nitrogen removal efficiency was stable. Meanwhile, thicker biofilms were also favorable to achieve less residual methane emission. Simulation results also suggested the feasibility of methane-based MBfRs to polish mainstream anammox effluent to meet a stringent N discharge standard (e.g., TN < 5 mg/L).

Recent advances in controlling denitritation for achieving denitratation/anammox in mainstream wastewater treatment plants

Denitratation (NO₃^-→NO₂^-)/anammox is a promising method for anammox application in mainstream wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to reduce oxygen and organic matter consumption. Achieving nitrite production via denitratation and controlling denitritation (NO₂^-→N₂) is the basis of the denitratation/anammox process. To control denitritation, the denitrifying biocommunity and growth rate are critically reviewed for biocommunity optimization. Then, the short-term and long-term effects of pH on denitritation were summarized and the possible mechanism was discussed, along with the effect of C/N ratio and organic matter type on denitritation. Meanwhile, the strategies for producing nitrite via controlling denitritation are discussed, as well as the processes for achieving nitrogen removal via denitratation/anammox in WWTPs. Finally, the practical application of denitratation/anammox in a full-scale mainstream WWTP is documented.

Towards more efficient nitrogen removal and phosphorus recovery from digestion effluent: Latest developments in the anammox-based process from the application perspective

Over the past forty years, anammox-based processes have been extensively researched and applied to some extent. However, some of the long-standing problems present serious impediments to wide application of these processes, and knowledge gap between lab-scale research and full-scale operations is still considerable. In recent years, anammox-based research has developed rapidly and some emerging concepts have been proposed. The focus of this review is on the critical problems facing actual application of anammox processes. The latest developments in anammox-based processes are summarized, and particular consideration is given to the following aspects: (1) the evolution of the chemical stoichiometry of anammox reaction; (2) the status of several main anammox-based processes; (3) the critical problems and countermeasures; (4) the emerging anammox-based processes; and (5) the suggested optimal process integrating partial nitritation, anammox, hydroxyapatite crystallization and denitratation for digestion effluent treatment towards more efficient nitrogen removal and phosphorus recovery in the future.

Robustness of anammox granular sludge treating low-strength sewage under various shock loadings: Microbial mechanism and little N2O emission

With the increasing application of anammox for the treatment of high-strength industrial wastewater, application of anammox in municipal sewage has been gaining more attention. Sludge granulation in particular enhances the enrichment and retention of anammox bacteria in municipal sewage treatment systems. However, the performance of granular sludge under continuous and varying hydraulic loading shock remains little understood. In this study, the robustness of anammox granular sludge in treating low-strength municipal sewage under various shock loadings was investigated. Results showed that an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor with anammox granules performed well, with anammox specific activity up to 0.28 kg N/kg VSS/day and anti-loading shock capability up to 187.2 L/day during the 8-month testing period. The accumulation rate of N₂O (<0.01 kg N/kg VSS/day) in the liquid phase was seven times higher than that of the gas phase, which could be mainly attributed to the incomplete denitrification and insufficient carbon source. However, only a small part of the produced N₂O escaped into the atmosphere. High-throughput sequencing and molecular ecological network analyses also identified the bacterial diversity and community structure, indicating the potential resistance against loading shock. The composition and structural analyses showed that polysaccharides were an important functional component in the tightly bound extracellular polymeric substances (TB-EPS), which was the major EPS layer of anammox granules. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) also showed that the gaps in between the anammox-clusters in the granules inhibit the flotation of the sludge and ensure efficient settling and retention of anammox granules.

Exploring the effects of operational mode and microbial interactions on bacterial community assembly in a one-stage partial-nitritation anammox reactor using integrated multi-omics

BACKGROUND

The metabolic capacities of anammox bacteria and associated microbial community interactions in partial-nitritation anammox (PNA) reactors have received considerable attention for their crucial roles in energy-efficient nitrogen removal from wastewater. However, a comprehensive understanding of how abiotic and biotic factors shape bacterial community assembly in PNA reactors is not well reported.

RESULTS

Here, we used integrated multi-omics (i.e., high-throughput 16S rRNA gene, metagenomic, metatranscriptomic, and metaproteomic sequencing) to reveal how abiotic and biotic factors shape the bacterial community assembly in a lab-scale one-stage PNA reactor treating synthetic wastewater. Analysis results of amplicon sequences (16S rRNA gene) from a time-series revealed distinct relative abundance patterns of the key autotrophic bacteria, i.e., anammox bacteria and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), and the associated heterotrophic populations in the seed sludge and the sludge at the new stable state after deterioration. Using shotgun metagenomic sequences of anammox sludge, we recovered 58 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), including 3 MAGs of anammox bacteria and 3 MAGs of AOB. The integrated metagenomic, metatranscriptomic, and metaproteomic data revealed that nitrogen metabolism is the most active process in the studied PNA reactor. The abundant heterotrophs contribute to the reduction of nitrate to nitrite/ammonium for autotrophic bacteria (anammox bacteria and AOB). Genomic and transcriptomic data revealed that the preference for electron donors of the dominant heterotrophs in different bacterial assemblages (seed and new stable state) varied along with the shift in anammox bacteria that have different metabolic features in terms of EPS composition. Notably, the most abundant heterotrophic bacteria in the reactor were more auxotrophic than the less abundant heterotrophs, regarding the syntheses of amino acids and vitamins. In addition, one of the abundant bacteria observed in the bacterial community exhibited highly transcribed secretion systems (type VI).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide the first insight that the bacterial communities in the PNA reactor are defined by not only abiotic factors (operating mode) but also metabolic interactions, such as nitrogen metabolism, exchange of electron donors, and auxotrophies.

High-efficient nitrogen removal from municipal wastewater via two-stage nitritation/anammox process: Long-term stability assessment and mechanism analysis

This study focused on the long-term stability of a novel two-stage partial-nitritation/anammox (PN/A) process treating municipal wastewater with fluctuated water quality. Specifically, two parallel sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were used for removing organic matters and achieving complete nitritation, while the expanded granular sludge bed (ANA-EGSB) was used for anammox. With the influent ammonium concentration varying from 32 to 79 mg/L and the average hydraulic retention time of 3.39 h in this system, more than 93% of ammonium was removed and the effluent TIN was 4.8-11.8 mg/L. The partial denitrifying occurring in the anammox reactor could reduce nitrate to nitrite that was reused by anammox bacterium, enhancing the TIN removal efficiency. Further, the "overconsumption of ammonium" under anaerobic conditions was observed in ANA-EGSB. Microbial community analysis showed that Nitrosomonas (AOB) were the dominant nitrifying bacteria in the nitritation SBR and Candidatus_Brocadia with the relative abundance of 6-13% dominated in ANA-EGSB.

Realizing stable operation of anaerobic ammonia oxidation at low temperatures treating low strength synthetic wastewater

The low activity of Anammox bacteria at low temperatures and competition from nitrite oxidation bacteria (NOB) when treating low strength wastewater have been major bottlenecks in implementing Anammox in mainstream wastewater treatment. By intermittent high strength feeding (IHSF) and stepwise temperature reduction, stable operation of a granular Anammox reactor was realized at low temperatures (down to 15°C) for 28days when treating low strength synthetic wastewater. The nitrogen loading rate reached 1.23-1.34kgN/m³/day, and the total nitrogen removal rate reached 0.71-0.98kgN/m³/day. The IHSF enriched the Anammox sludge in high strength cycles and compensated for sludge loss in low strength cycles, and the high concentration of ammonium in high strength cycles inhibited NOB. The 16SrRNA gene sequencing results revealed that Candidatus Kuenenia was predominant in the reactor at low temperatures.

Stratification of nitrifier guilds in granular sludge in relation to nitritation

A lab-scale partial nitritation granular sludge air-lift reactor was operated in continuous mode treating low strength synthetic medium (influent ca. 50 mg-N-NH₄⁺/L). Granules were initially stratified with AOB in the external shell and NOB in the inner core at 20 °C. Once temperature was decreased progressively from 20 °C to 15 °C, nitrate production was initially observed during several weeks. However, by maintaining relatively high ammonium concentrations in the liquid (ca. 28 mg-N-NH₄⁺/L), effluent nitrate concentrations in the reactor decreased in time and process performance was recovered. Batch tests were performed in the reactor at different conditions. To understand the experimental results an existing one-dimensional biofilm model was used to simulate batch tests and theoretically assess the impact of stratification, dissolved oxygen (DO) and short-term effects of temperature on time course concentrations of ammonium, nitrite and nitrate. This theoretical assessment served to develop an experimental methodology for the evaluation of in-situ batch tests in the partial nitritation reactor. These batch tests proved to be a powerful tool to easily monitor the extent of stratification of nitrifier guilds in granular sludge and to determine the required bulk ammonium concentration to minimize nitrite oxidation. When nitrifier guilds were stratified in the granular sludge, a higher bulk ammonium concentration was required to efficiently repress NOB at lower temperature (ca. 19 versus 7 mg-N-NH₄⁺/L at 15 and 20 °C, respectively).

Upflow packed bed Anammox reactor used in two-stage deammonification of sludge digester effluent

The sludge digester effluent taken from a full scale municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Istanbul, Turkey, was successfully deammonified using a laboratory scale two-stage partial nitritation (PN)/Anammox (A) process and a maximum nitrogen removal rate of 1.02 kg N/m³/d was achieved. In the PN reactor, 56.8 ± 4% of the influent NH₄-N was oxidized to NO₂-N and the effluent nitrate concentration was kept below 1 mg/L with 0.5-0.7 mg/L of dissolved oxygen and pH of 7.12 ± 12 at 24 ± 4°C. The effluent of the PN reactor was fed to an upflow packed bed Anammox reactor where high removal efficiency was achieved with NO₂-N:NH₄-N and NO₃-N:NH₄-N ratios of 1.32 ± 0.19:1 and 0.22 ± 0.10:1, respectively. The results show that NH₄-N removal efficiency up to 98.7 ± 2.4% and total nitrogen removal of 87.7 ± 6.5% were achieved.

Anammox granular sludge in low-ammonium sewage treatment: Not bigger size driving better performance

An integrated investigation to document high anammox abundance, activity and diversity in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor treating low-strength ammonium loading sewage was performed and showed that the optimal anammox granular sludge sizes could mitigate undesirable N₂O emission. The enhanced anammox bacterial abundance, activity and specific anammox rate were achieved with optimal granules sludge sizes of 0.5-0.9 mm with multiple "Jettenia", "Brocadia", and "Anammoxoglobus" species. The tightly-bound extracellular polymeric substance (TB-EPS) was the main EPS layer found in anammox granular sludge, in which polysaccharides play an important structural role. Over this granular sludge sizes, the anammox bacterial abundance and activity did not significantly decrease, but N₂O emission significantly increased. High throughput sequencing and ecological networks demonstrated the patterns of anammox and their co-occurring bacteria, with availability N₂O-producer and N₂O-reducer functional genes. Incomplete denitrification and insufficient carbon source mainly contributed to N₂O production in granular sludge, as supported by results of stratification analysis.

The influence of dissolved oxygen on partial nitritation/anammox performance and microbial community of the 200,000 m3/d activated sludge process at the Changi water reclamation plant (2011 to 2016)

Mainstream partial nitritation/anammox (PN/A), coupled with excess biological phosphorus removal, in a 200,000 m³/d step-feed activated sludge process (Train 2) in the Changi Water Reclamation Plant (WRP), Singapore, has been studied and reported. This paper presents an overview of process performance and the microbial community during the period from 2011 to 2016. The site data showed that, along with the reduction of dissolved oxygen (DO) from 1.7 to 1.0 mg O₂/L in the aeration zones, the concentrations of ammonium and nitrate of the final effluent increased, while nitrite decreased, resulting in an increase of 2.4 mg N/L of total inorganic nitrogen. Autotrophic nitrogen removal was higher than heterotrophic biological nitrogen removal under higher DO concentration conditions, but decreased under low DO operating condition. These macro-scale changes were caused by shifts of the nitrogen-converting microbial community. The ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) population abundance was reduced by 30 times, while the nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) population abundance and specific activity increased significantly with a shift of dominant genus from Nitrobacter to Nitrospira. The ratio of AOB and NOB specific activities were reduced from 12.8 to 1.6, and the ex situ nitrite accumulation ratio reduced from 76% to 29%. Changes in the microbial community and overall process performance illustrated that, compared to the excellent NOB suppression under high DO conditions, NOB were more active after the DO concentration reduction despite still being partly suppressed. This case study demonstrated, for the first time, the influence of DO reduction on the nitrogen conversion microbial community and PN/A process performance for a suspended growth system. Its relevance to biofilm and hybrid PN/A processes is also discussed.

Status, Challenges, and Perspectives of Mainstream Nitritation-Anammox for Wastewater Treatment

  The nitritation-anammox process is an efficient and cost-effective approach for biological nitrogen removal, but its application in treating mainstream wastewater remains a great challenge. Mainstream nitritation-anammox processes could create opportunities for achieving energy self-sufficient, or energy-generating water resource recovery facilities. Significant advancements have been achieved via pilot- and full-scale trials to overcome the major obstacles under mainstream conditions, such as repression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, limiting the overgrowth of denitrifiers, and effective selection and retention of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and anammox bacteria. This review paper intends to provide a detailed update of research progress on mainstream nitritation-anammox processes, discuss metabolic interactions, and examine major challenges and possible solutions towards the future development.

Mainstream anammox in a novel A-2B process for energy-efficient municipal wastewater treatment with minimized sludge production

The conventional biological processes for municipal wastewater are facing the challenges of high energy consumption and production of excessive sludge. To address these two emerging issues, this study demonstrated the feasibility to integrate mainstream anammox into an A-2B process for municipal wastewater treatment towards energy-efficient operation with reduced sludge production. In the proposed A-2B process, an anaerobic fixed bed reactor (AFBR) served as A-stage for COD capture, an anammox moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) was employed as B2-stage, which received effluent containing nitrite from a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) at B1-stage. The results showed that under the operation conditions studied, 58% of influent COD was converted methane gas at A-stage, and 87% total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) removal was achieved with the effluent TIN concentration of 6.5 mg/L. Moreover, it was shown that at least 75% of sludge reduction was obtained due to the COD capture at A-stage. The high-throughput sequencing analysis further revealed that Candidatus Kuenenia was the dominant genus responsible for the observed anammox at B2-stage MBBR. This study clearly demonstrated a novel process configuration for sustaining mainstream anammox for municipal wastewater reclamation towards energy-efficient operation with minimized sludge production.

Microbial community evolution in partial nitritation/anammox process: From sidestream to mainstream

This study investigated the microbial evolution in a mainstream partial nitritation/anammox (PN/A) reactor started by inoculation from sidestream PN/A. The reactor was fed with pre-treated sewage and operated for 120 days at room temperature (24-26 °C). It was found that for both sidestream and mainstream PN/A, anammox bacteria preferentially grew in granular sludge while ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were mainly resided in flocculent sludge. After 120 days operation, the abundance of anammox bacteria in the reactor decreased from 6.6 × 10¹¹ to 3.2 × 10¹¹ copies/L. Besides, a shift of dominant anammox genera from Ca. Brocadia to Ca. Kuenenia was observed. In contrast, the dominant genera of AOB was Nitrosomonas throughout the operation. Furthermore, high-throughput sequencing revealed that heterotrophs constitute the majority of microorganisms in PN/A reactor. Especially, Chloroflexi, which can utilize cell decay materials from autotrophs, were enriched under mainstream conditions. This study provided a better understanding of the microorganisms in mainstream PN/A process.

Stable long-term operation of an upflow anammox sludge bed reactor at mainstream conditions

The efforts for implementing the anammox process at mainstream conditions with high nitrogen removal rates have gained much attention in the race for achieving an energy-positive urban wastewater treatment plant. Here, the successful and stable long-term operation of an Upflow Anammox Sludge Bed (UAnSB) reactor treating a low-strength synthetic influent amended with ammonium and nitrite for 420 days, and a nitrite-amended pre-treated real urban wastewater for 110 days at temperatures as low as 11 °C is presented. The short and long-term effects of temperature on anammox activity were assessed when the synthetic influent was treated, and the UAnSB reactor was demonstrated to be a robust reactor to confront low temperatures, typically found at mainstream conditions. In fact, a nitrogen loading rate as high as 1.8 ± 0.1 g N L^-1 d^-1 with 82 ± 4% of nitrogen removal was achieved at 11 °C treating the low-strength synthetic influent. Furthermore, the effect of treating a nitrite-amended pre-treated real urban wastewater at 11 °C at long-term in the UAnSB reactor was evaluated, and a stable operation was achieved with a high average nitrogen removal rate (1.2 ± 0.5 g N L^-1 d^-1). The relative abundance of anammox bacteria was maintained higher than 70% according to fluorescence in situ hybridization during the whole operation, being Candidatus Brocadia anammoxidans the predominant microbial species. The presence of heterotrophs in the sludge bed was surmised through heterotrophic batch tests, but anammox activity was demonstrated to be higher than heterotrophic activity, even when the synthetic influent was replaced by the nitrite-amended pre-treated real wastewater. The feasibility of operating an enriched anammox reactor at high nitrogen removal rate at long-term at mainstream conditions was demonstrated in this study.

Effect of temperature on N2O emissions from a highly enriched nitrifying granular sludge performing partial nitritation of a low-strength wastewater

In the race to achieve a sustainable urban wastewater treatment plant, not only the energy requirements have to be considered but also the environmental impact of the facility. Thus, nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions are a key-factor to pay attention to, since they can dominate the total greenhouse gases emissions from biological wastewater treatment. In this study, N₂O production factors were calculated during the operation of a granular sludge airlift reactor performing partial nitritation treating a low-strength synthetic influent, and furthermore, the effect of temperature on N₂O production was assessed. Average gas emission relative to conversion of ammonium was 1.5 ± 0.3% and 3.7 ± 0.5% while the effluent contained 0.5 ± 0.1% and 0.7 ± 0.1% (% N-oxidized) at 10 and 20 °C, respectively. Hence, temperature increase resulted in higher N₂O production. The reasons why high temperature favoured N₂O production remained unclear, but different theoretical hypotheses were suggested.

Achieving Mainstream Nitrogen Removal through Coupling Anammox with Denitratation

Achieving maintream anammox is critical for energy-neutral sewage treatment. This study presents a new way to achieve mainstream anammox, which couples anammox with denitratation (nitrate reduction to nitrite) instead of nitritation (ammonium oxidation to nitrite). An anoxic/oxic (A/O) biofilm system treating systhetic domestic wastewater was used to demonstrate this concept for over 400 days. This A/O biofilm system achieved a total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency of 80 ± 4% from the influent with a low C/N ratio of 2.6 and a TN concentration of 60.5 mg/L. Nitrogen removal via anammox was found to account for 70% of dinitrogen production in the anoxic reactor. Batch tests confirmed that the anoxic biofilm could oxidize ammonium using nitrite as electron acceptor, and that it had a higher nitrate reduction rate than the nitrite reduction rate, thus producing nitrite for the anammox reaction. Metagenomic analysis showed that Candidatus Jettenia caeni and Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis were the top two dominant species in anoxic biofilm. Genes involved in the metabolism of the anammox process were detected in anoxic biofilm. The abundance of nitrate reductase (73360 hits) was much higher than nitrite reductase (13114 hits) in anoxic biofilm. This system can be easily integrated with the high-rate activated sludge technology, which produces an effluent with a low C/N ratio. While this new design consumes 21% more oxygen in comparison to the currently studied nitritation/anammox process, the nitrite-producing process appears to be more stable.

Strategies for enhanced deammonification performance and reduced nitrous oxide emissions

Deammonification's performance and associated nitrous oxide emissions (N₂O) depend on operational conditions. While studies have investigated factors for high performances and low emissions separately, this study investigated optimizing deammonification performance while simultaneously reducing N₂O emissions. Using a design of experiment (DoE) method, two models were developed for the prediction of the nitrogen removal rate and N₂O emissions during single-stage deammonification considering three operational factors (i.e., pH value, feeding and aeration strategy). The emission factor varied between 0.7±0.5% and 4.1±1.2% at different DoE-conditions. The nitrogen removal rate was predicted to be maximized at settings of pH 7.46, intermittent feeding and aeration. Conversely, emissions were predicted to be minimized at the design edges at pH 7.80, single feeding, and continuous aeration. Results suggested a weak positive correlation between the nitrogen removal rate and N₂O emissions, thus, a single optimizing operational set-point for maximized performance and minimized emissions did not exist.

Achieving partial nitrification by inhibiting the activity of Nitrospira-like bacteria under high-DO conditions in an intermittent aeration reactor

It is generally accepted that a low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration is more beneficial for achieving partial nitrification than high-DO. In this study, partial nitrification was not established under low-DO conditions in an intermittent aeration reactor for treating domestic wastewater. During the operational period of low-DO conditions (DO: 0.3±0.14mg/L), stable complete nitrification was observed. The abundance of Nitrospira-like bacteria, which were the major nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, increased from 1.03×10⁶ to 2.64×10⁶cells/mL. At the end of the low-DO period, the batch tests showed that high-DO concentration (1.5, 2.0mg/L) could inhibit nitrite oxidation, and enhance ammonia oxidation. After switching to the high-DO period (1.8±0.32mg/L), partial nitrification was gradually achieved. Nitrospira decreased from 2.64×10⁶ to 8.85×10⁵cells/mL. It was found that suddenly switching to a high-DO condition could inhibit the activity and abundance of Nitrospira-like bacteria, resulting in partial nitrification.

Achieving nitritation in a continuous moving bed biofilm reactor at different temperatures through ratio control

A ratio control strategy was implemented in a continuous moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) to investigate the response to different temperatures. The control strategy was designed to maintain a constant ratio between dissolved oxygen (DO) and total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentrations. The results revealed that a stable nitritation in a biofilm reactor could be achieved via ratio control, which compensated the negative influence of low temperatures by stronger oxygen-limiting conditions. Even with a temperature as low as 6°C, stable nitritation could be achieved when the controlling ratio did not exceed 0.17. Oxygen-limiting conditions in the biofilm reactor were determined by the DO/TAN concentrations ratio, instead of the mere DO concentration. This ratio control strategy allowed the achievement of stable nitritation without complete wash-out of NOB from the reactor. Through the ratio control strategy full nitritation of sidestream wastewater was allowed; however, for mainstream wastewater, only partial nitritation was recommended.

Mainstream partial nitritation-anammox in municipal wastewater treatment: status, bottlenecks, and further studies

Driven by energy neutral/positive of wastewater treatment plants, significant efforts have been made on the research and development of mainstream partial nitritation and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) (PN/A) (deammonification) process since the early 2010s. To date, feasibility of mainstream PN/A process has been demonstrated and proven by experimental results at various scales although with the low loading rates and elevated nitrogen concentration in the effluent at low temperatures (15-10 °C). This review paper provides an overview of the current state of research and development of mainstream PN/A process and critically analyzes the bottlenecks for its full-scale application. The paper discusses the following: (i) the current status of research and development of mainstream PN/A process; (ii) the interactions among aerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria, aerobic nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, anammox bacteria, and heterotrophic bacteria; (iii) the suppression of aerobic nitrite-oxidizing bacteria; (iv) process and bioreactors; and (v) suggested further studies including efficient and robust carbon concentrating pretreatment, deepening of understanding competition between autotrophic nitrogen-converting organisms, intensification of biofilm anammox activity, reactor design, and final polishing.

A novel process combining simultaneous partial nitrification, anammox and denitrification (SNAD) with denitrifying phosphorus removal (DPR) to treat sewage

In this study, a novel process combined simultaneous partial nitrification, anammox and denitrification (SNAD) with denitrifying phosphorus removal (DPR) was proposed for advanced nitrogen removal. Firstly simulating sewage was introduced to a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for organic matter removal and anaerobic phosphorus release (stage 1). Then effluent of stage 1 with low COD was discharged to a sequencing biofilm batch reactor (SBBR) for partial nitrification, anammox and partial denitrification (stage 2). The nitrate produced in SBBR was fed into SBR again, in which the nitrate was removed by DPR process (stage 3). The performance of the SNAD-DPR process was investigated. And effects of carbon source addition during start-up period on microbial community were discussed based on 16S rRNA amplicon pyrosequencing.

Performance of partial denitrification (PD)-ANAMMOX process in simultaneously treating nitrate and low C/N domestic wastewater at low temperature

The simultaneous treatment of nitrate (NO3(-)-N∼50mgL(-1)) and domestic wastewater (ammonia (NH4(+)-N)∼60.6mgL(-1), COD∼166.3mgL(-1)) via a novel partial denitrification (PD)-ANaerobic AMMonium OXidation (ANAMMOX) process was investigated at low temperature (12.9∼15.1°C). Results showed that desirable performance was achieved with average NO3(-)-N, NH4(+)-N and COD removal efficiencies of 89.5%, 97.6% and 78.7%, respectively. However, deteriorated sludge settleability in PD reactor was observed during operation, which bulked with serious sludge wash-out, leading to excess NO3(-)-N remaining in PD effluent. Fortunately, a satisfactory nitrogen removal was still achieved due to the occurrence of partial denitrification in ANAMMOX reactor. This was demonstrated by high-throughput sequencing, which revealed that the high nitrite (NO2(-)-N) production denitrifying bacteria of Thauera was detected (6.1%). ANAMMOX (above 70%) maintained the dominant pathway for nitrogen removal, and Candidatus Jettenia was identified as the major ANAMMOX species accounted for 2.7%.

Impact of partial nitritation degree and C/N ratio on simultaneous Sludge Fermentation, Denitrification and Anammox process

This study presents a novel process (i.e. PN/SFDA) to remove nitrogen from low C/N domestic wastewater. The process mainly involves two reactors, a pre-Sequencing Batch Reactor for partial nitritation (termed as PN-SBR) and an anoxic reactor for integrated Denitrification and Anammox with carbon sources produced from Sludge Fermentation (termed as SFDA). During long-term Runs, NO2(-)/NH4(+) ratio (i.e. NO2(-)-N/NH4(+)-N calculated by mole) in the PN-SBR effluent was gradually increased from 0.2 to 37 by extending aerobic duration, meaning that partial nitritation turning to full nitritation could be achieved. Impact of partial nitritation degree on SFDA process was investigated and the result showed that, NO2(-)/NH4(+) ratios between 2 and 10 were appropriate for the co-existence of denitrification and anammox together in the SFDA reactor, and denitrification instead of anammox contributed greater for nitrogen removal. Further batch tests indicated that anammox collaborated well with denitrification at low C/N (1.0 in this study).

Model predictive control of two-step nitrification and its validation via short-cut nitrification tests

Short-cut nitrification (SCN) is shown to be an attractive technology due to its savings in aeration and external carbon source addition cost. However, the shortage of excluding nitrite nitrogen as a model state in an Activated Sludge Model limits the model predictive control of biological nitrogen removal via SCN. In this paper, a two-step kinetic model was developed based on the introduction of pH and temperature as process controller, and it was implemented in an SBR reactor. The simulation results for optimizing operating conditions showed that with increasing of dissolved oxygen (DO) the rate of ammonia oxidation and nitrite accumulation firstly increased in order to achieve a SCN process. By further increasing DO, the SCN process can be transformed into a complete nitrification process. In addition, within a certain range, increasing sludge retention time and aeration time are beneficial to the accumulation of nitrite. The implementation results in the SBR reactor showed that the data predicted by the kinetic model are in agreement with the data obtained, which indicate that the two-step kinetic model is appropriate to simulate the ammonia removal and nitrite production kinetics.

Kinetic and microbiological characterization of aerobic granules performing partial nitritation of a low-strength wastewater at 10 °C

A granular airlift reactor enriched in ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) was operated at 10 °C performing stable partial nitritation in the long-term. The reactor treated a synthetic low-strength influent during 250 days with an average nitrogen loading rate of 0.63 ± 0.06 g N L(-1) d(-1). Nitrate production was barely detected, being the average concentration in the effluent of 0.6 ± 0.3 mg N-NO3 L(-1). Furthermore, a suitable effluent for a subsequent reactor performing the anammox process was achieved. A maximum specific growth rate as high as 0.63 ± 0.05 d(-1) was determined by performing kinetic experiments with the granular sludge in a chemostat and fitting the results to the Monod model. Pyrosequencing analysis showed a high enrichment in AOB (41 and 65% of the population were identified as Nitrosomonas genus on day 98 and 233, respectively) and an effective repression of nitrite oxidizing bacteria in the long-term. Pyrosequencing analysis also identified the coexistence of nitrifying bacteria and heterotrophic psychrotolerant microorganisms in the granular sludge. Some psychrotolerant microorganisms are producers of cryoprotective extracellular polymeric substances that could explain the better survival of the whole consortia at cold temperatures.

Suspended sludge and biofilm shaped different anammox communities in two pilot-scale one-stage anammox reactors

The abundance and diversity of anammox bacteria was investigated in two pilot-scale integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) reactors treating high ammonium wastewater. Reactor A was inoculated with nitrifying sludge, while Reactor B was inoculated with suspended anammox sludge with the dominant anammox bacteria of Candidatus 'Kuenenia'. After 180days' operation, the predominate anammox bacteria was Candidatus 'Brocadia' (65%) in the biofilm, while Candidatus 'Kuenenia' (86%) outcompeted with other anammox bacteria in suspended sludge in Reactor A. Candidatus 'Kuenenia' were dominated in suspended sludge through the entire experiment in Reactor B. In contrast, the predominated species shifted from Candidatus 'Kuenenia' (89%) into Candidatus 'Brocadia' (66%) in the biofilm of Reactor B. This study indicated that Candidatus 'Brocadia' preferred to grow in the biofilm, while Candidatus 'Kuenenia' would dominant over other anammox bacteria in the suspended sludge. Further studies are required to identify the internal factors affecting the distribution of anammox bacteria.

Semi-nitritation process producing optimum influent for anammox process in treatment of domestic wastewater

The process of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) requires a proper ratio of NH4(+)-N and NO2(-)-N in the influent, which is difficult to control upon treating domestic wastewater. In this study, a control strategy of semi-nitritation (SN) process based on monitoring the pH profile and NH4(+)-N concentration in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was developed. The aeration time of each cycle in SN-SBR was calculated using the established equation tSN=tCOD+0.56αnS0/(S0-Sn). To verify the suitability of the control strategy, SN-SBR was operated continuously for 20 cycles, fed with real domestic wastewater with a fluctuating COD of 200-400 mg L(-1) and NH4(+)-N of 65-80 mg L(-1). The nitrogen removal performance of SN-anammox system using the developed control strategy was also monitored. Results showed that SN-SBR was able to generate a suitable ratio of NH4(+)-N to NO2(-)-N for the following anammox process, the TN removal rate of the SN-anammox system achieved 91.7 ± 0.4% and the average ammonium, nitrite and nitrate concentration of effluent was only 0.50 ± 0.24, 0.13 ± 0.09 and 4.9 ± 0.22 mg L(-1), respectively. This study has potential application in the treatment of domestic wastewater using combined SN-anammox process.

Achieving Stable Nitritation for Mainstream Deammonification by Combining Free Nitrous Acid-Based Sludge Treatment and Oxygen Limitation

Stable nitritation is a critical bottleneck for achieving autotrophic nitrogen removal using the energy-saving mainstream deammonification process. Herein we report a new strategy to wash out both the Nitrospira sp. and Nitrobacter sp. from the treatment of domestic-strength wastewater. The strategy combines sludge treatment using free nitrous acid (FNA) with dissolved oxygen (DO) control in the nitritation reactor. Initially, the nitrifying reactor achieved full conversion of NH₄⁺ to NO₃⁻. Then, nitrite accumulation at ~60% was achieved in the reactor when 1/4 of the sludge was treated daily with FNA at 1.82 mg N/L in a side-stream unit for 24 h. Fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) revealed FNA treatment substantially reduced the abundance of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) (from 23.0 ± 4.3 to 5.3 ± 1.9%), especially that of Nitrospira sp. (from 15.7 ± 3.9 to 0.4 ± 0.1%). Nitrite accumulation increased to ~80% when the DO concentration in the mainstream reactor was reduced from 2.5–3.0 to 0.3–0.8 mg/L. FISH revealed the DO limitation further reduced the abundance of NOB (to 2.1 ± 1.0%), especially that of Nitrobacter sp. (from 4.9 ± 1.2 to 1.8 ± 0.8%). The strategy developed removes a major barrier for deammonification in low-strength domestic wastewater.