High-nitrate wastewater treatment in an expanded granular sludge bed reactor and microbial diversity using 454 pyrosequencing analysis

Sulfide-carbonate-mineralized functional bacterial consortium for cadmium removal in flue gas

Sulfide-carbonate-mineralized functional bacterial consortium was constructed for flue gas cadmium biomineralization. A membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) using the bacterial consortium containing sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) and denitrifying bacteria (DNB) was investigated for flue gas cadmium (Cd) removal. Cadmium removal efficiency achieved 90%. The bacterial consortium containing Citrobacter, Desulfocurvus and Stappia were dominated for cadmium resistance-nitrate-sulfate reduction. Under flue gas cadmium stress, ten cadmium resistance genes (czcA, czcB, czcC, czcD, cadA, cadB, cadC, cueR, copZ, zntA), and seven genes related to sulfate reduction, increased in abundance; whereas others, nine genes related to denitrification, decreased, indicating that cadmium stress was advantageous to sulfate reduction in the competition with denitrification. A bacterial consortium could capable of simultaneously cadmium resistance, sulfate reduction and denitrification. Microbial induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) and biological adsorption process would gradually yield to sulfide-mineralized process. Flue gas cadmium could transform to Cd-EPS, cadmium carbonate (CdCO3) and cadmium sulfide (CdS) bioprecipitate. The functional bacterial consortium was an efficient and eco-friendly bifunctional bacterial consortium for sulfide-carbonate-mineralized of cadmium. This provides a green and low-carbon advanced treatment technology using sulfide-carbonate-mineralized functional bacterial consortium for the removal of cadmium or other hazardous heavy metal contaminants in flue gas.

Optimizing waste molasses utilization to enhance electron transfer via micromagnetic carriers: Mechanisms and high-nitrate wastewater denitrification performance

The biological denitrification of high-nitrate wastewater (HNW) is primarily hindered by insufficient carbon sources and excessive nitrite accumulation. In this study, micromagnetic carriers with varying micromagnetic field (MMF) strengths (0.0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 mT) were employed to enhance the denitrification of HNW using waste molasses (WMs) as a carbon source. The results revealed that 0.6 mT MMF significantly improved the total nitrogen removal (TN) efficiency at 96.3%. A high nitrate (NO3--N) removal efficiency at 99.3% with a low nitrite (NO2--N) accumulation at 25.5 mg/L was achieved at 0.6 mT MMF. The application of MMF facilitated the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and stimulated denitrifying enzymes (e.g., nitrate reductase (NAR), nitrite reductase (NIR), and nitric oxide reductase (NOR)), which thereby promoting denitrification. Moreover, the effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD), tryptophan and fulvic-like substances exhibited their lowest levels at 0.6 mT MMF. Analysis through 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid gene sequencing indicated a significant enrichment of denitrifying bacteria including Castellaniella Klebsiella under the influence of MMF. Besides, the proliferation of Acholeplasma, Klebsiella and Proteiniphilum at 0.6 mT MMF promoted the hydrolysis and acidification of WMs. This study offers new insights into the enhanced utilization of WMs and the denitrification of HNW through the application of MMF.

Divalent manganese stimulates the removal of nitrate by anaerobic sludge

This study investigated the effect of different concentrations of Mn2+ on the removal of nitrate by anaerobic sludge and changes in the microbial communities through batch experiments. The results showed that the addition of Mn2+ promoted nitrate removal by anaerobic sludge; the nitrate was completely removed within 6 d in the treatment group with >5 mM Mn2+. With the increase in Mn2+, the concentration of nitrite and nitrous oxide increased in the first 4 d and then decreased to 0 μM after 8 d of incubation. The increasing tendency of ammonium increased firstly and then decreased with the addition of Mn2+ compared to A. Moreover, the Mn2+ removal efficiency gradually decreased with the increase of Mn2+ concentration. The changes of microflora structure in sludge before and after adding Mn2+ were analyzed, and the results revealed that the microbial communities in the sludge may have evolved towards an energy-efficient association of short-cut nitrification, denitrification, and anaerobic ammonia oxidation after adding Mn2+. Mn2+ stimulated the removal of nitrate by anaerobic sludge mainly by promoting the growth of PHOS-HE36.

Effects of operating conditions on the in situ control of sulfur-containing odors by using a novel alternative landfill cover and its transformation mechanism

Sulfur-containing gases are main sources of landfill odors, which has become a big issue for pollution to environment and human health. Biocover is promising for treating landfill odors, with advantages of durability and environmental friendliness. In this study, charcoal sludge compost was utilized as the main effective component of a novel alternative landfill cover and the in situ control of sulfur-containing odors from municipal solid waste landfilling process was simulated under nine different operating conditions. Results showed that five sulfur-containing odors (hydrogen sulfide, H2S; methyl mercaptan, CH3SH; dimethyl sulfide, CH3SCH3; ethylmercaptan, CH3CH2SH; carbon disulfide, CS2) were monitored and removed by the biocover, with the highest removal efficiencies of 77.18% for H2S, 87.36% for CH3SH, and 92.19% for CH3SCH3 in reactor 8#, and 95.94% for CH3CH2SH and 94.44% for CS2 in reactor 3#. The orthogonal experiment showed that the factors influencing the removal efficiencies of sulfur-containing odors were ranked from high to low as follows: temperature > weight ratio > humidity content. The combination of parameters of 20% weight ratio, 25°C temperature, and 30% water content was more recommended based on the consideration of the removal efficiencies and economic benefits. The mechanisms of sulfur conversion inside biocover were analyzed. Most organic sulfur was firstly degraded to reduced sulfides or element sulfur, and then oxidized to sulfate which could be stable in the layer as the final state. In this process, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria play a great role, and the distribution of them in reactor 1#, 5#, and 8# was specifically monitored. Bradyrhizobiaceae and Rhodospirillaceae were the dominant species which can utilize sulfide as substance to produce sulfate and element sulfur, respectively. Based on the results of OUTs, the biodiversity of these sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, these microorganisms, was demonstrated to be affected by the different parameters. These results indicate that the novel alternative landfill cover modified with bamboo charcoal compost is effective in removing sulfur odors from landfills. Meanwhile, the findings have direct implications for addressing landfill odor problems through parameter adjustment.

Influence of nitrogen sources on wastewater treatment performance by filamentous algae in constructed wetland system

Although filamentous algae have the characteristics of high nutrient assimilation ability, and adaptation to different conditions, studies on their role in water purification of constructed wetlands (CWs) are limited. In this study, the wastewater treatment capacity under different nitrogen sources was explored by constructing a filamentous algal CW (FACW) system. Results confirmed the fast and stable operation efficiency of the FACW system. Ammonia nitrogen was preferred in Cladophora sp. absorption and assimilation. The nutrient consumption rate (NCR) for total nitrogen (TN) of AG was 2.65 mg g-1 d-1, much higher than that of nitrate nitrogen (NG) (0.89 mg g-1 d-1). The symbiosis of bacteria and Cladophora sp. Contributed to pollutant removal. A stable and diverse community of microorganisms was found on Cladophora sp. Surface, which revealed different phylogenetic relationships and functional bacterial proportions with those attached on sediment surface. In addition, temperature and light intensity have great influence on the purification ability of plants, and low hydraulic retention time is beneficial to the cost-effective operation of the system. This study provides a method to expand the utilization of wetland plants and apply large filamentous algae to the purification of wetland water quality.

Retention and recycling of granules in continuous flow-through system to accomplish denitrification and perchlorate reduction

This study employed a completely anoxic reactor and a gravity-settling design for continuously separating from flocculated biomass and hydraulically recycling granules back to the main reactor. The average chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal in the reactor was 98 %. Average nitrate (NO₃^--N) and perchlorate (ClO₄^-) removal efficiencies of 99 % and 74 ± 19 % were observed, respectively. Preferential utilization of NO₃^- over ClO₄^- led to COD limiting conditions, which resulted in ClO₄^- in the effluent. The average granule diameter in continuous flow-through bubble-column (CFB) anoxic granular sludge (AxGS) bioreactor was 6325 ± 2434 µm, and the average SVI₃₀/SVI₁ was > 90% throughout its operation. 16s rDNA amplicon sequencing revealed Proteobacteria (68.53% - 88.57%) and Dechloromonas (10.46% - 54.77%) to be the most abundant phylum and genus present in reactor sludge representing the denitrifying and ClO₄^- reducing microbial community. This work represents a pioneering development of CFB-AxGS bioreactor.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of amendments derived from vermicompost combined with modified shell powder on Cd immobilization in Cd-contaminated soil by multiscale experiments

The widespread heavy metal contamination of agricultural soils poses an enormous challenge to food safety. To evaluate the Cd immobilization potential of vermicompost combined with modified shell powder (VMSP) on Cd-contaminated soil, batch adsorption tests and field experiments were conducted. First, the Cd²⁺ removal characteristics and adsorption mechanisms of vermicompost (V), vermicompost combined with shell powder (VSP), and VMSP in an aqueous solution were investigated by batch tests. Then, 3 kg·m² V, VSP, and VMSP doses were applied to Cd-contaminated farmland soils as soil amendments to plant green garlic (Allium sativum L.) and investigate their Cd immobilization effects in Cd-contaminated soils. Batch adsorption tests showed that VMSP was most effective for Cd²⁺ removal, with adsorption rates as high as 85.7-99.79% and desorption rates of approximately 1.25-1.34%. Combining further characterization analysis of VMSP, it was demonstrated that the adsorption mechanism of Cd²⁺ was monolayer chemisorption, mainly involving the complexation reaction of Cd²⁺ with organic functional groups and the precipitation reaction of Cd²⁺ with mineral elements. The field experiment showed that adding V, VSP, and VMSP effectively inhibited the enrichment of Cd in green garlic, and the Cd content was reduced by 42.18%, 46.88%, and 68.75%, respectively. However, only the Cd content of green garlic treated with VMSP was lower than the national standard for food safety in China (Cd≤ 0.2 mg·kg^-1). V, VSP, and VMSP additions improved soil fertility and reduced Cd bioavailability in the soil by 15.5%, 18.9%, and 36.3%, respectively. In addition, V, VSP, and VMSP addition increased bacterial diversity and improved bacterial communities and functions in the soil by improving basic soil properties and reducing Cd-related toxicity. The results indicated that VMSP is a promising amendment for Cd immobilization in Cd-contaminated farmland soils.

Anoxic granular activated sludge process for simultaneous removal of hazardous perchlorate and nitrate

An airtight, anoxic bubble-column sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was developed for the rapid cultivation of perchlorate (ClO₄^-) and nitrate (NO₃^-) reducing granular sludge (GS) in this study. Feast/famine conditions and shear force selection pressures in tandem with a short settling time (2-min) as a hydraulic section pressure resulted in the accelerated formation of anoxic granular activated sludge (AxGS). ClO₄^- and NO₃^- were efficiently (>99.9%) reduced over long-term (>500-d) steady-state operation. Specific NO₃^- reduction, ClO₄^- reduction, chloride production, and non-purgeable dissolved organic carbon (DOC) oxidation rates of 5.77 ± 0.54 mg NO₃^--N/g VSS·h, 8.13 ± 0^.74 mg ClO₄^-/g VSS·h, 2.40 ± 0.₄0 mg Cl^-/g VSS·h, and 16.0 ± 0.06 mg DOC/g VSS·h were recorded within the reactor under steady-state conditions, respectively. The AxGS biomass cultivated in this study exhibited faster specific ClO₄^- reduction, NO₃^- reduction, and DOC oxidation rates than flocculated biomass cultivated under similar conditions and AxGS biomass operated in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blank (UASB) bioreactor receiving the same influent loading. EPS peptide identification revealed a suite of extracellular catabolic enzymes. Dechloromonas species were present in high abundance throughout the entirety of this study. This is one of the initial studies on anoxic granulation to simultaneously treat hazardous chemicals and adds to the science of the granular activated sludge process.

Waste reclamation from municipal solid waste for the cost-efficient treatment of landfill leachate with a novel biological trickle reactor system

Mature landfill leachate (MLL) would be a tough nut to crack, how to realize waste reclamation while deal with the intractable by-products deserves for more considerations. In this study, a novel system, equipped with two biological trickle reactors developed by inert wastes and a connected organic feeder using waste-recycling rotten banana powder, was established for treating MLL. Results indicated that superior pollutant removal performance and long-term stability were achieved by this system, with only COD and TN concentrations slightly higher than the relevant standard limits. But the shortage about poor resistance to shock pollution loads, was underlined by the fluctuation of water quality. Anaerobic condition and carbon source supplementation contributed to more microbial similarities but less community richness and diversity among inert fillings, and the selective enrichment of denitrification and organic-degrading strains simultaneously occurred. The comparisons with common processes demonstrated that this system was a cost-efficient choice for MLL treatment.

Integrating conventional nitrogen removal with anammox in wastewater treatment systems: Microbial metabolism, sustainability and challenges

The various forms of nitrogen (N), including ammonium (NH₄⁺), nitrite (NO₂^-), and nitrate (NO₃^-), present in wastewaters can create critical biotic stress and can lead to hazardous phenomena that cause imbalances in biological diversity. Thus, biological nitrogen removal (BNR) from wastewaters is considered to be imperatively urgent. Therefore, anammox-based systems, i.e. partial nitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (PN/anammox) and partial denitrification and anammox (PD/anammox) have been universally acknowledged to consider as alternatives, promising and cost-effective technologies for sustainable N removal from wastewaters compared to nitrification-denitrification processes. This review comprehensively presents and discusses the latest advances in BNR technologies, including traditional nitrification-denitrification and anammox-based systems. To a deep understanding of a better-controlled combining anammox with traditional processes, the microbial community diversity and metabolism, as well as, biomass morphological characteristics were clearly reviewed in the anammox-based systems. Explaining simultaneous microbial competition and control of crucial operation parameters in single-stage anammox-based processes in terms of optimization and economic benefits makes this contribution a different vision from available review papers. The most important sustainability indicators, including global warming potential (GWP), carbon footprint (CF) and energy behaviours were explored to evaluate the sustainability of BNR processes in wastewater treatment. Additionally, the challenges and solutions for BNR processes are extensively discussed. In summary, this review helps facilitate a critical understanding of N removal technologies. It is confirmed that sustainability and saving energy would be achieved by anammox-based systems, thereby could be encouraged future outcomes for a sustainable N removal economy.

Meta-Omics-Supervised Characterization of Respiration Activities Associated with Microbial Immigrants in Anaerobic Sludge Digesters

Immigration has been recently recognized as an important ecological process that affects the microbial community structure in diverse ecosystems. However, the fate of microbial immigrants in the new environment and their involvement in the local biochemical network remain unclear. In this study, we performed meta-omics-supervised characterization of immigrants' activities in anaerobic sludge digesters. Metagenomic analyses revealed that immigrants from the feed sludge accounted for the majority of populations capable of anaerobic respiration in a digester. Electron acceptors that were predicted to be respired, including nitrate, nitrite, sulfate, and elemental sulfur, were added to digester sludge in batch tests. Consumption of up to 91% of the added electron acceptors was observed within the experiment period. 16S rRNA sequencing detected populations that were stimulated by the electron acceptors, largely overlapping with respiration-capable immigrants identified by metagenomic analysis. Metatranscriptomic analysis of the batch tests provided additional evidence for upregulated expression of respiration genes and concomitant suppressed expression of methanogenesis. Anaerobic respiration activity was further evaluated in full-scale digesters in nine wastewater treatment plants. Although nitrate and sulfate respiration were ubiquitous, the expression level of respiration genes was generally 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than the expression of methanogenesis in most digesters, suggesting marginal ecological roles by immigrants in full-scale digester ecosystems.

Bioinspired facilitation of intrinsically conductive polymers: Mediating intra/extracellular electron transfer and microbial metabolism in denitrification

Intrinsically conductive polymers, polyaniline and polyaniline sulfonate (PASAni) were used to explore their effect on denitrification. Denitrification was accelerated 1.90 times by 2 mM PASAni and the possible mechanisms were mainly attributed to the accelerated electron transfer and the enhanced microbial metabolism activity. Intracellular electron transfer was accelerated by PASAni and the acceleration sites were from NADH to coenzyme Q (CoQ), quinone loop, from Complex II to CoQ and from QH₂ to Cyt. c₁. Extracellular electron transfer was accelerated because PASAni promoted more secretion of redox species and PASAni embedded in extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). Moreover, PASAni itselfprovided more electron transfer pathways as redox species. Microbial metabolism activity was also enhanced by PASAni, which was reflected in the increased nitrate/nitrite reductase activity (236.13/155.43%), electron transfer system activity (112.49%), adenosine triphosphate level (133.41%) and EPS content (189.06%). Besides, the enriched Proteobacteria in PASAni supplement system was also conducive to denitrification. This work provided fundamental information for conductive polymers mediating microbial electron transfer and enhancing contaminants biotransformation.

Understanding the impacts of operation mode sequences on the biological aniline degradation system: Startup phase, pollutants removal rules and microbial response

Comparative evaluation of SBRs under different modes (AX/O, AN/AX/O, AN/O/AX, O/AX) with same aniline wastewater arrangements, presenting the startup and performance differences of reactors. The results revealed that the four systems realized the efficient aniline and NH₄⁺-N removal on the basis of sufficient aerobic time. Anaerobic aniline degradation was also achieved in the first three reactors after acclimation. The denitrification efficiency was the highest in O/AX reactor and the lowest in AN/O/AX due to mode sequence setup. Pollutants variations in the typical cycles experimental data combined with microbial diversity analysis were highlighted that aerobic denitrification contributed the most under O/AX mode, while the other three modes relied on anoxic denitrification. Meanwhile, low nitrifiers and aerobic denitrifiers abundance might be another reason for the poor denitrification of AN/O/AX mode. It was inferred that denitrification was most susceptible to operation mode sequences.

A rapid change in microbial communities of the shale gas drilling fluid from 3548 m depth to the above-ground storage tank

Despite the growing body of studies on the various fracturing phrases, the research on the differences between subterranean and surface microorganisms at shale gas drilling sites is still limited. Generally, shale gas development and the production process are divided into drilling and fracturing. The distribution of microbial communities in the latter has been paid some attention, but a deficit remains in terms of our understanding of the microbial community in the former, especially for the phase of drilling flowback and drilling flowback surface. In this study, four drilling flowback fluids (DFFs) (H230-flowback drilling cuttings, H23G-flowback drilling mud, H240-flowback drilling sediment, and H21F-flowback drilling water) from the outlet of subterranean pipeline to the inlet of storage tank were successively collected from H2 shale gas field during its initial drilling in Sichuan, China. Natural mountain water (H10W) used as the injection water of H2 was also sampled. Illumina MiSeq 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed a total of 8 phyla, 17 classes, 36 orders, 62 families, and 98 genera that were recovered from these samples with uneven distribution. The majority of the obtained sequences belonged to the phyla Proteobacteria (75.36%), Bacteroidetes (10.75%), and Firmicutes (5.64%), with significant differences found in DFFs and injection water. The richness of microorganisms gradually increased with the increasing flowback flowing distance (H230 < H23G < H240 < H21F < H10W), which was employed to reveal a rapid change in microbiota that was evident in samples along the flow path aboveground from a depth of 3548 m. The findings of this study could expand our understanding of the ecological role of microorganisms during the shale gas drilling phase. Furthermore, the study highlights the temporal-spatial trajectory of microbial communities from subterranean environments to the surface in a short period of 30 days.

Efficient removal of nitrate, manganese, and tetracycline by a polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate with sponge cube immobilized bioreactor

The co-existence of nitrate, manganese (Mn), and antibiotics are of a wide concern. In this study, a denitrifying and manganese-oxidizing Zoogloea Q7 bacterium was immobilized using polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate with sponge cube (PVA/SA@sponge cube) in the reactor. The optimal operation parameters of the bioreactor were explored. Maximum nitrate, Mn(II), and tetracycline (TC) removal efficiencies of 93.00, 72.34, and 57.32% were achieved with HRT of 10 h, pH of 6.5, Mn(II) concentration of 20 mg L^-1, and TC of 1 mg L^-1, respectively. Fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) proved that the microorganism in the bioreactor was greatly active. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images demonstrated that Zoogloea Q7 was commendably immobilized on the novel material. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis suggested that the bioprecipitate was mainly composed of MnO₂ and MnCO_3. Through high-throughput analysis, Zoogloea sp. Q7 was considered to be the dominant bacteria present in the bioreactor.

The effects of vermicompost and shell powder addition on Cd bioavailability, enzyme activity and bacterial community in Cd-contaminated soil: A field study

Cadmium (Cd) contamination has become serious in soil and in situ stabilization technology has been widely used for heavy metal remediation. A field study was conducted to determine the effect of amendments with the doses of 3 kg/m2, including single vermicompost (A1), a 95% vermicompost mixed with 5% shell powder composite (A2) and a 95% vermicompost mixed with 5% modified shell powder composite (A3), on the Cd bioavailability, enzyme activity and bacterial community in soil, and the experiment was conducted with lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) grown in a Cd-contaminated farmland soil. The results showed that the application of amendments increased the pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), organic matter (OM), available nutrients, catalase (S-CAT), invertase (S-SC) and urease (S-UE) activities in soil, while significantly reduced the Cd bioavailability with the lowest Cd bioavailability being observed in the soil with A3 application. The soil bacterial richness and diversity increased after amendments application, and the bacterial community was characterized by an increase in metal-tolerant bacteria but a decrease in Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria and Gemmatimonadetes. In addition, the application of amendments significantly improved the growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and inhibited Cd accumulation in its edible parts, especially, the Cd content in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) grown in soil with A3 application was below the limit of the National Food Safety Standard of China (maximum level ≤ 0.2 mg/kg). Thus, composite amendment obtained from vermicompost mixed with modified shell powder can be used as potential remediation material in Cd-contaminated soil. CAPSULE: Composite amendment obtained from vermicompost and modified shell powder had good effects on remediation of Cd-contaminated soil.

Metagenomic insights into aniline effects on microbial community and biological sulfate reduction pathways during anaerobic treatment of high-sulfate wastewater

For comprehensive insights into the change of sulfate reduction pathway responding to the toxic stress and the shift of microbial community and performance of sulfate reduction, we built a laboratory-scale expanded granular sludge bed reactor (EGSB) treating high-sulfate wastewater with elevated aniline concentrations from 0 to 480 mg/L. High-throughput sequencing and metagenomic approaches were applied to decipher the molecular mechanisms of sulfate reduction under aniline stress through taxonomic and functional profiles. The increasing aniline in the anaerobic system induced the accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFA), further turned the bioreactor into acidification, which was the principal reason for the deterioration of system performance and finally resulted in the accumulation of toxic free sulfide. Moreover, aniline triggered the change of bacterial community and genes relating to sulfate reduction pathways. The increase of aniline from 0 to 320 mg/L enriched total sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), and the most abundant genus was Desulfomicrobium, accounting for 66.85-91.25% of total SRB. The assimilatory sulfate reduction pathway was obviously inhibited when aniline was over 160 mg/L, while genes associated with dissimilatory sulfate reduction pathways all exhibited an upward tendency with the increasing aniline content. The enrichment of aniline-resistant SRB (e.g. Desulfomicrobium) carrying genes associated with the dissimilatory sulfate reduction pathway also confirmed the underlying mechanism that sulfate reduction turned into dissimilation under high aniline condition. Taken together, these results comprehensively provided solid evidence for the effects of aniline on the biological sulfate reduction processes treating high-sulfate wastewater and the underlying molecular mechanisms which may highlight the important roles of SRB and related sulfate reduction genes during treatment.

Microbial community structures and functions of hypersaline heterotrophic denitrifying process: Lab-scale and pilot-scale studies

High-nitrate wastewaters are known pose substantial risks to human and environmental health, while their effective treatment remains difficult. The denitrification of saline, high-NO₃^- wastewaters was investigated at the laboratory- and pilot-scale experiment. Complete denitrification was achieved for three different realistic wastewaters, and the maximum influent [NO₃^-]₀ and salinity were as high as 20,500 mg/L and 7.8%, respectively. The results of microbial community structure analyses revealed that the sequences of denitrifying functional bacteria accounted for 96.2% of all sequences, and the functional genes for denitrification in bacteria were enriched with elevated salinity and [NO₃^-]₀. A significant difference was observed in the dominant bacterial genus between synthetic and realistic wastewaters. Thauera and Halomonas species evolved to be the most common dominant genera contributing to the processes of nitrate, nitrite, and nitrous oxide reductase. This study is practically valuable for the treatment of realistic, saline, high-NO₃^- wastewaters via denitrification by heterotrophic bacteria.

Rapid Enrichment and Isolation of Polyphosphate-Accumulating Organisms Through 4'6-Diamidino-2-Phenylindole (DAPI) Staining With Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS)

Screening for bacteria with abilities to accumulate valuable intracellular compounds from an environmental community is difficult and requires strategic methods. Combining the experimental procedure for phenotyping living cells in a microbial community with the cell recovery necessary for further cultivation will allow for an efficient initial screening process. In this study, we developed a strategy for the isolation of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) by combining (i) nontoxic fluorescence staining of polyphosphate granules in viable microbial cells and (ii) fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) for the rapid detection and collection of target cells. To implement this screening approach, cells from wastewater sludge samples were stained with 4’6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) to target cells with high polyphosphate (polyP) accumulation. We found a staining procedure (10 μg/ml of DAPI for 30 min) that can visualize polyP granules while maintaining viability for the majority of the cells (>60%). The polyP positive cells were recovered by FACS, purified by colony isolation and phylogenetically identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Follow-up analysis confirmed that these isolates accumulate polyP, indicating that DAPI can be implemented in staining living cells and FACS can effectively and rapidly screen and isolate individual cells from a complex microbial community.

A pilot-scale study on the treatment of landfill leachate by a composite biological system under low dissolved oxygen conditions: Performance and microbial community

In this work, a pilot-scale low dissolved oxygen (DO) composite biological system (LDOCBS) composed of an anoxic rotating biological contactor (RBC) and four aeration tanks with gradient aeration was used to treat landfill leachate for 88 d. The maximum removals of 85.65%, 99.92% and 84.06% for chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia (NH₄⁺-N) and total nitrogen (TN) were achieved, respectively. The three-dimensional exaction and emission matrix (3D-EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy revealed that the biodegradability of leachate was significantly improved by the LDOCBS. Mass balance calculations showed that the COD removal and denitrification process mainly occurred in RBC while 1# contributed primarily to nitrification. High-throughput sequencing analysis indicated that denitrifying bacteria with highly relative abundances of 46.45%-53.81% played key roles in organic degradation and nitrogen removal. This work could add some guiding insights into the cost-efficient treatment of landfill leachate by the composite biological system.

Aerobic granular sludge operation and nutrients removal mechanism in a novel configuration reactor combined sequencing batch reactor and continuous-flow reactor

A novel aerobic granular sludge (AGS) system called SBR (sequencing batch reactor)-CF (continuous-flow) system merging the advantages of sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) and continuous flow (CF) reactors was developed. The AGS was successfully operated in the SBR-CF system which consisted of four same SBRs (each served as settling tank/anaerobic feeding tank/aerobic reacting tank in turn). The effects of aeration intensity and hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the SBR-CF system were studied. The results showed strong aeration intensity (9.74 h^-1 in this study) and appropriate HRT (9 h in this study) were more favorable to the nutrients removal. The EEM-PARAFAC analysis was applied to characterize the LB-EPS, TB-EPS and domestic wastewater, as results TB-EPS was found play an important role in the biosorption in COD removal of the SBR-CF system. In addition, a preliminary conceptual reaction process model in the SBR-CF system was built using high-throughput pyrosequencing and phylogenetic assignment.

Influence of Hydrogen Electron Donor, Alkaline pH, and High Nitrate Concentrations on Microbial Denitrification: A Review

Bacterial respiration of nitrate is a natural process of nitrate reduction, which has been industrialized to treat anthropic nitrate pollution. This process, also known as “microbial denitrification”, is widely documented from the fundamental and engineering points of view for the enhancement of the removal of nitrate in wastewater. For this purpose, experiments are generally conducted with heterotrophic microbial metabolism, neutral pH and moderate nitrate concentrations (<50 mM). The present review focuses on a different approach as it aims to understand the effects of hydrogenotrophy, alkaline pH and high nitrate concentration on microbial denitrification. Hydrogen has a high energy content but its low solubility, 0.74 mM (1 atm, 30 °C), in aqueous medium limits its bioavailability, putting it at a kinetic disadvantage compared to more soluble organic compounds. For most bacteria, the optimal pH varies between 7.5 and 9.5. Outside this range, denitrification is slowed down and nitrite (NO₂⁻) accumulates. Some alkaliphilic bacteria are able to express denitrifying activity at pH levels close to 12 thanks to specific adaptation and resistance mechanisms detailed in this manuscript, and some bacterial populations support nitrate concentrations in the range of several hundred mM to 1 M. A high concentration of nitrate generally leads to an accumulation of nitrite. Nitrite accumulation can inhibit bacterial activity and may be a cause of cell death.

New direction in biological nitrogen removal from industrial nitrate wastewater via anammox

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is an important scientific discovery in the field of wastewater treatment. This process is a sustainable option in nitrogen removal due to its energy-efficient and cost-effective advantage. Great effort has been made recently to remove ammonium from industrial and municipal wastewater via the anammox process with a preceding partial nitrification (PN) converting part of NH₄⁺ to NO₂^-. Anammox process is seldom involved in the nitrate removal. Nitrate (NO₃^-), one of the main nitrogen compounds produced from various industries, is typically converted to nitrogen gas via denitrification process where a large amount of carbon source is consumed. Within this context, we reviewed the current technologies for high-strength nitrate wastewater treatment. It is found that nitrite accumulation often occurs during nitrate reduction, and its accumulating level would be increased at certain conditions (i.e., low C/N ratio and high pH). Hence, this provides a great opportunity to employ the anammox process to further convert nitrite in a more sustainable way. In this review, we highlight a new approach for industrial nitrate wastewater treatment via partial denitrification coupled with anammox process (PD-A). We also discuss the conditions to achieve successful PD-A process, economic and environmental benefits, and potential challenges as well as the future perspectives in practical application.

Assessing key microbial communities determining nitrogen transformation in composting of cow manure using illumina high-throughput sequencing

Insight to nitrogen transformation and cycling during composting is vital in developing management strategies that improve nitrogen content and quality of the end product. In this study, a positive ventilation device was constructed and used to elucidate nitrogen transformation and microbial community structures during the composting of cow manure and rice straw. Bacterial community successions were analyzed during the composting process by examining the change in their structural dynamics using high-throughput sequencing technique. The results revealed that dominant phyla, included Acidobacter, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, and Actinobacteria. Furthermore, a positive strong correlation was observed between the key bacterial communities and nitrogen transformation. Analyses of functional genera, Spearman correlation and Path showed that Thermomonospora_curvata_DSM_43183 followed by Luteimonas and Simiduia, Brevundimonas and Tamlana, Pseudomonas followed by Brevundimonas and Flavobacterium were the key bacterial communities affecting NH₄⁺-N, NO₃^--N, and NO₂^--N transformation, respectively. Thauera followed by Pseudomonas_putida_NBRC_14164 played a dominant role in N₂O transformation.

Combined Partial Denitrification (PD)-Anammox: A method for high nitrate wastewater treatment

Elimination of nitrogen pollution from wastewater containing high-strength nitrate (NO₃^--N) is a significant issue to prevent deterioration of water quality and eutrophication of receiving water body. Traditional denitrification process faces several challenges including the huge organic carbon demand, intermediate products accumulation, and long acclimatization period. In this study, an efficient solution was given by a novel two-stage Partial Denitrification (PD)-Anammox process. High NO₃^--N (1000 mg N/L) wastewater and municipal sewage (COD: 182.5 mg/L, ammonia (NH₄⁺-N): 58.3 mg/L) were simultaneously introduced to the PD reactor for NO₃^--N converting to NO₂^--N. The NH₄⁺-N and NO₂^--N in effluent of PD were removed in subsequent anammox reactor. Results showed that a satisfactory nitrogen removal was achieved by optimizing the volume ratios of influent NO₃^--N and municipal sewage, as well as the external organic matter dosage. The NO₃^--N removal efficiency reached up to 95.8% without accommodation period, along with the NH₄⁺-N removal achieving 92.8%. Anammox contributed to 78.9% of TN removal despite the high COD (76.5-98.6 mg/L) in PD effluent was introduced, indicating the significant stability of the integrated process. The microbial analysis suggested that the Candidatus Brocadia, identified as anammox bacteria, cooperated stable with denitrifying bacteria in 215-day operation. The PD-Anammox process offers an economically and technically attractive approach in the high NO₃^--N wastewater treatment since it has great advantages of much low carbon demand, minimal sludge production, enabling simultaneous treatment of municipal sewage, and avoiding the common issues in traditional denitrification process.

Effects of operating parameters on in situ NH3 emission control during kitchen waste composting and correlation analysis of the related microbial communities

Ammonia emission during composting results in anthropogenic odor nuisance and reduces the agronomic value of the compost due to the loss of nitrogen. Adjusting the operating parameters during composting is an emerging in situ odor control technique that is cheap and highly efficient. The effects of in situ NH₃ emission control were investigated in this study by simultaneously adjusting key operating parameters (such as C/N ratio, aeration rate, and moisture content) during the composting processes (C1-C9). Results showed that the average NH₃ emission concentrations for different treatments were in the order of C1 > C4 > C2 > C5 > C3 > C6 > C7 > C8 > C9. The total content of NH₃ emission (21.02 g/kg) in C9 (C/N ratio = 35, aeration rate = 15 L/min, and moisture content = 60%) was much lower than that (65.95 g/kg) in C1 (C/N ratio = 15, aeration rate = 5 L/min, and moisture content = 60%). The nitrogen loss ratio was 27.36% for C1, while 16.15% for C9. The microbial diversity and abundance in C9 and C1 were compared using high-throughput sequencing. The relationship between NH₃ emission, operating parameters, and the related functional microbial communities was also investigated. Results revealed that Nitrosospira, Nitrosomonas, Nitrobacter, Pseudomonas, Methanosaeta, Rhodobacter, Paracoccus, and Sphingobacterium were negatively related to NH₃ emission. According to the above results, the optimal values for different operating parameters for the in situ NH₃ control during kitchen waste composting were, respectively, moisture content of 70%, C/N ratio of 35, and aeration rate of 15 L/min, with the order of effectiveness from high to low being aeration rate > C/N > moisture. This information could be used as a valuable reference for the in situ NH₃ emission control during kitchen waste composting.

Odor removal by and microbial community in the enhanced landfill cover materials containing biochar-added sludge compost under different operating parameters

Odor problem has become a growing concern for municipal solid waste (MSW) operators and communities located close to landfill sites. In this study, nine laboratory-scale landfill reactors were used to simulate in-situ odor control by a novel landfill cover material consisting of biochar-added sludge compost under various operating parameters. Characterization of odor removal and microbial community in the cover layer under various operating parameters was conducted using gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry and 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing, respectively. Results showed that H₂S (76.9-86.0%) and volatile organic sulfur compounds (VOSCs) (12.3-21.7%) were dominant according to their theoretical generated odor concentrations. The total odor REs calculated using the theoretical odor concentrations in the landfill reactors were different than using the measured odor values, which were ranked from high to low as: R6 > R5 > R7 > R4 > R8 > R9 > R3 > R2 > R1, showing the largest discrepancy of 25.3%. The optimum combination of operating parameters based on the theoretical odor concentration was different with that based on the measured odor concentrations. Moreover, although Firmicutes (12.21-91.48%), Proteobacteria (3.55-51.03%), and Actinobacteria (4.01-47.39%) were in general the three major bacterial phyla found in the landfill covers, the detailed bacterial communities in the cover materials of the simulated reactors varied with various operating parameters. Alicyclobacillus and Tuberibacillus showed positive correlations with the removal efficiencies (REs) of chlorinated compounds, H₂S, aromatic compounds, volatile organic sulfur compounds (VOSCs), and organic acids. The correlations of Rhodanobacter, Gemmatimonas, Flavisolibacter and Sphingomonas were strongly positive with ammonia RE and relatively positive with REs of organic acids, VOSCs, and aromatic compounds. These findings are instrumental in understanding the relationship between the structure of microbial communities and odor removal performances, and in developing techniques for in-situ odor control at landfills.

Microbial community succession and pollutants removal of a novel carriers enhanced duckweed treatment system for rural wastewater in Dianchi Lake basin

Carriers strengthened duckweed treatment system (CDW), duckweed treatment system (DW) and water hyacinth treatment system (WH) were developed to treat rural wastewater in Dianchi Lake basin. Results showed that adding microbial carrier did not affect the growth and biomass components of duckweed. The following features were discovered in the CDW system. First, the NO₃^--N and TN removal efficiencies were the highest among three systems, reaching 80.02% and 56.42%, respectively. Secondly, Illumina sequencing revealed the highest microbial diversity. Thirdly, a distinct succession of microbial community was observed. Rhodobacter, Bacteria vadinCA02, C39 and Flavobacterium dominated in the start-up stage, and contributed to biofilm formation and pollutants degradation. Acinetobacter, Planctomyces and Methylibium significantly increased in the stable stage, and contributed to nitrogen removal. Finally, highly abundant plant growth-promoting bacteria were found. Comprehensive analysis indicated that the functional bacteria community was closely related to the pollutant removals, plant growth and system operating status.

Temperature dependence of denitrification microbial communities and functional genes in an expanded granular sludge bed reactor treating nitrate-rich wastewater

The temperature dependence of denitrification was investigated for high nitrate nitrogen denitrification in an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor. The optimal reaction temperatures were 15-35 °C in which nearly complete denitrification was achieved with the removal of COD maintained over 80%. Nitrite accumulation was observed at 10 °C indicating the incomplete denitrification at low temperature. However, almost complete denitrification was even accomplished as high as 52 °C. High-throughput sequencing detected a total of 84 bacterial genera and 7 phyla, and temperature variation resulted in the shift of microbial community structure and diversity. Proteobacteria thrived while Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were inhibited by temperature stress. The predominance of Halomonas and the significant decrease of Azoarcus at low temperature indicated a more important role of these two genera in denitrification in an EGSB reactor. The results of qPCR indicated that temperature exerted effects on the abundance of denitrification function genes, nirK, nirS, narG, and nosZ, due to the shift of the bacterial community. This study provided a comprehensive understanding of temperature effects on the denitrification process in an EGSB reactor treating high concentration nitrate wastewater.

Simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal in an aerobic granular sludge sequencing batch reactor with high dissolved oxygen: Effects of carbon to nitrogen ratios

Simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal (SNDPR) using aerobic granules is a promising approach in water treatment. The present work investigated the effects of influent carbon to nitrogen (N) ratios (20, 10, and 4) on the SNDPR performance in aerobic granular sequencing batch reactors (AGSBR) under high aeration rate. Results revealed that granules remained long-term stability when the DO concentration was 7-8 mg/L. With the decline of COD/N ratios, the denitrification efficiency was reduced due to the accumulation of nitrate, although the removal of COD and TP remained stable with good efficiency. Rising concentration of ammonia N led to the increase of PN/PS ratio of EPS as well as the protein types according to the results of 3D-EEM fluorescence spectroscopy. MiSeq pyrosequencing technology indicated that the decreasing ratio of COD/N under high DO concentration contributed to accumulation of GAOs and DNPAOs rather than PAOs.

Rapid start-up and performance of denitrifying granular sludge in an upflow sludge blanket (USB) reactor treating high concentration nitrite wastewater

Denitrifying granular sludge reactor holds better nitrogen removal efficiency than other kinds of denitrifying reactors, while this reactor commonly needs seeding anaerobic granular sludge and longer period for start-up in practice, which restricted the application of denitrifying granular sludge reactor. This study presented a rapid and stable start-up method for denitrifying granular sludge. An upflow sludge blanket (USB) reactor with packings was established with flocculent activated sludge for treatment of high concentration nitrite wastewater. Results showed mature denitrifying granular sludge appeared only after 15 days with highest nitrogen removal rate of 5.844 kg N/(m³ day), which was much higher than that of compared anoxic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR). No significant nitrite inhibition occurred in USB and denitrification performance was mainly influenced by hydraulic retention time, influent C/N ratio and internal reflux ratio. Hydraulic shear force created by upflow fluid, shearing of gaseous products and stable microorganisms adhesion on the packings might be the reasons for rapid achievement of granular sludge. Compared to inoculated sludge and ASBR, remarkable microbial communitiy variations were detected in USB. The dominance of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes and enrichment of species Pseudomonas_stutzeri should be responsible for the excellent denitrification performance, which further verified the feasibility of start-up method.

Performance and microbial characteristics of biomass in a full-scale aerobic granular sludge wastewater treatment plant

By modification of the operational conditions of batch reactors, a municipal wastewater treatment plant was upgraded from activated sludge to aerobic granular sludge (AGS) technology. After upgrading, the volume of the biological reactors was reduced by 30%, but the quality of the effluent substantially improved. The concentration of biomass in the reactors increased twofold; the average biomass yield was 0.6 g MLVSS/g COD, and excess granular sludge was efficiently stabilized in aerobic conditions. Canonical correspondence analysis based on the results of next-generation sequencing showed that the time of adaptation significantly influenced the microbial composition of the granules. In mature granules, the abundance of ammonium-oxidizing bacteria was very low, while the abundance of the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria Nitrospira sp. was 0.5 ± 0.1%. The core genera were Tetrasphaera, Sphingopyxis, Dechloromonas, Flavobacterium, and Ohtaekwangia. Bacteria belonging to these genera produce extracellular polymeric substances, which stabilize granule structure and accumulate phosphorus. The results of this study will be useful for designers of AGS wastewater treatment plants, and molecular data given here provide insight into the ecology of mature aerobic granules from a full-scale facility.

The impact of DO and salinity on microbial community in poly(butylene succinate) denitrification reactors for recirculating aquaculture system wastewater treatment

The interactions between environmental factors and bacterial community shift in solid-phase denitrification are crucial for optimum operation of a reactor and to achieve maximum treatment efficiency. In this study, Illumina high-throughput sequencing was applied to reveal the effects of different operational conditions on bacterial community distribution of three continuous operated poly(butylene succinate) biological denitrification reactors used for recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) wastewater treatment. The results indicated that salinity decreased OTU numbers and diversity while dissolved oxygen (DO) had no obvious influence on OTU numbers. Significant microbial community composition differences were observed among and between three denitrification reactors under varied operation conditions. This result was also demonstrated by cluster analysis (CA) and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA). Hierarchical clustering and redundancy analysis (RDA) was performed to test the relationship between environmental factors and bacterial community compositions and result indicated that salinity, DO and hydraulic retention time (HRT) were the three key factors in microbial community formation. Besides, Simplicispira was detected under all operational conditions, which worth drawing more attention for nitrate removal. Moreover, the abundance of nosZ gene and 16S rRNA were analyzed by real-time PCR, which suggested that salinity decreased the proportion of denitrifiers among whole bacterial community while DO had little influence on marine reactors. This study provides an overview of microbial community shift dynamics in solid-phase denitrification reactors when operation parameters changed and proved the feasibility to apply interval aeration for denitrification process based on microbial level, which may shed light on improving the performance of RAS treatment units.

Effect of glucose on nitrogen removal and microbial community in anammox-denitrification system

The effect of glucose on nitrogen removal and microbial communities in the anammox-denitrification systems was investigated. The optimal nitrogen removal could be achieved when the influent glucose concentration was 56.4mgL^-1. The influent nitrite to ammonium ratio of 0.95-1.40 would not obviously affect the nitrogen removal due to the coexistence of anammox, denitrification and partial denitrification. The anammox activity was deteriorated with increasing glucose concentration. When the influent glucose concentration was increased to 374.9mgL^-1, the average ammonium removal efficiency decreased from 97% to around 10% and anammox activity was seriously inhibited. The anammox activity quickly recovered with decreasing influent glucose and increasing influent nitrite. High-throughput sequencing analysis suggested that the predominant genus changed from Candidatus Kuenenia to Diaphorobacter with the addition of glucose and then changed to Hydrogenophaga with the decrease of glucose. It indicated that organics concentration had an effect on the microbial communities.

Characterization of a Microbial Community in an Anammox Process Using Stored Anammox Sludge

This study investigated a rapid start-up anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) process by inoculation with stored Anammox sludge and characterized the associated microbial communities. The Anammox process took only 43 days to start. A high nitrogen removal rate of 1.13 kg N m−3 d−1 and a nitrogen loading rate of 1.28 kg N m−3 d−1 were achieved. The ratio of ammonium removal to nitrite removal to nitrate production (1:1:0.2) was slightly lower than the theoretical value, which indicated nitrogen removal by denitrification in the reactor. Illumina high-throughput sequencing of sludge samples confirmed the co-existence of Anammox bacteria and denitrifying bacteria in the reactor and demonstrated that denitrifying bacteria play a role in nitrogen removal during the Anammox process. The dominant microbes in the reactor were Proteobacteria, Chlorobi, Chloroflexi, and Planctomycetes. However, only one species of Anammox bacteria, Candidatus jettenia, was identified and had an abundance of 4.92%. Our results illustrate the relationship between Anammox reactor performance and microbial community succession.

Elucidation of microbial characterization of aerobic granules in a sequencing batch reactor performing simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal at varying carbon to phosphorus ratios

An aerobic granules simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal (SNDPR) system was evaluated in terms of the reactor performance and microbial population dynamics with decreasing C/P ratios from 50 to 16. The effects of C/P ratios on organic carbon and nutrients removal were investigated, as well as the alpha diversity of the bacterial community and bacterial compositions by using Illumina MiSeq pyrosequencing technology. Finally, the relative abundances and distribution patterns were identified and assessed given the key functional groups involved in biological nutrients removals to reveal the effects of C/P ratios to aerobic granules in the SNDPR from the molecular level.

Microbial monitoring of ammonia removal in a UASB reactor treating pre-digested chicken manure with anaerobic granular inoculum

Performance and microbial community dynamics in an upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor coupled with anaerobic ammonium oxidizing (Anammox) treating diluted chicken manure digestate (Total ammonia nitrogen; TAN=123±10mg/L) were investigated for a 120-d operating period in the presence of anaerobic granular inoculum. Maximum TAN removal efficiency reached to above 80% with as low as 20mg/L TAN concentrations in the effluent. Moreover, total COD (tCOD) with 807±215mg/L in the influent was removed by 60-80%. High-throughput sequencing revealed that Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes were dominant phyla followed by Euryarchaeota and Bacteroidetes. The relative abundance of Planctomycetes significantly increased from 4% to 8-9% during the late days of the operation with decreased tCOD concentration, which indicated a more optimum condition to favor ammonia removal through anammox route. There was also significant association between the hzsA gene and ammonia removal in the UASB reactor.

Effect of granular activated carbon on the aerobic granulation of sludge and its mechanism

The granulation of activated sludge and effect of granular activated carbon (GAC) was investigated under the alternative anaerobic and aerobic conditions. The results showed that GAC accelerated the granulation, but had no obvious effect on the bacterial community structure of granules. The whole granulation process could be categorized into three phases, i.e. lag, granulation and granule maturation phase. During lag period GAC provided nuclei for sludge to attach, and thus enhanced the morphological regularization of sludge. During granulation period the granule size increased significantly due to the growth of bacteria in granules. GAC reduced the compression caused by the inter-particle collisions and thus accelerate the granulation. GAC has no negative effect on the performance of SBR, and thus efficient simultaneous removal of COD, nitrogen and phosphorus were obtained during most of the operating time.

Performance, kinetics behaviors and microbial community of internal circulation anaerobic reactor treating wastewater with high organic loading rate: Role of external hydraulic circulation

Performance of internal circulation anaerobic reactor (IC) treating wastewater at high organic loading rate (OLR) and role of external hydraulic circulation were evaluated. When the OLR was increased from 2.50 to 18.94kgCOD/m³/d, COD removal decreased to 85% slightly and methane production increased to 4.49L/L/d with the upflow velocity of 1.0m/h resulted from the additional hydraulic circulation. Withdrawal of external hydraulic circulation led to decrease of COD removal to lower than 60% drastically and methane production by 81%. Accumulation of volatile fatty acids caused decline of pH to below 6.0 and the shift of substrate metabolic pathway to the hybrid fermentation. In addition, both maximum methane production rate and maximum substrate degradation rate obtained from mathematical models decreased significantly. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens including Methanobacterium and Methanocorpusculum predominated in the anaerobic sludge and the shift of microbial community was also observed.

Evaluation of COD effect on anammox process and microbial communities in the anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR)

Nitrogen removal with different organic carbon effect was investigated using anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) anammox reactor. Results indicated that organic carbon exert an important effect on nitrogen removal through anammox process. When the feeding COD concentration was lower than 99.7mgL(-1), nitrogen removal could be enhanced via the coexistence of denitrification and anammox. Elevated COD could further deteriorate the anammox activity with almost complete inhibition at the COD concentration of 284.1mgL(-1). The nitrogen removal contribution rate of anammox was varied from 92.7% to 6.9%. However, the anammox activity was recovered when the COD/TN was decreased from 2.33 to 1.25 with influent nitrite addition. And, the anammox process was again intensified from 27.0 to 51.2%. High-throughput Miseq sequencing analyses revealed that the predominant phylum changed from Chloroflexi to Proteobacteria with the elevated COD addition, which indicated COD concentration was the most important factor regulating the bacterial community structure.

Metagenomic analysis of denitrifying wastewater enrichment cultures able to transform the explosive, 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO)

Removal of 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO) was investigated in conjunction with heterotrophic and autotrophic denitrifying growth conditions by a microbial consortium from a wastewater treatment plant. Microcosms were supplemented with molasses, methanol, or thiosulfate. Cultures were passaged twice by transferring 10 % of the culture volume to fresh media on days 11 and 21. Rates of NTO removal were 18.71 ± 0.65, 9.04 ± 2.61, and 4.34 ± 2.72 mg/L/day while rates of nitrate removal were 20.08 ± 1.13, 21.58 ± 1.20, and 24.84 ± 1.26 mg/L/day, respectively, for molasses, methanol, or thiosulfate. Metagenomic analysis showed that Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the major phyla in the microbial communities. In molasses supplemented cultures, the community profile at the family level changed over time with Pseudomonadaceae the most abundant (67.4 %) at day 11, Clostridiaceae (65.7 %) at day 21, and Sporolactobacillaceae (35.4 %) and Clostridiaceae (41.0 %) at day 29. Pseudomonadaceae was the dominant family in methanol and thiosulfate supplemented cultures from day 21 to 29 with 76.6 and 81.6 % relative abundance, respectively.

Metagenomic insights into Cr(VI) effect on microbial communities and functional genes of an expanded granular sludge bed reactor treating high-nitrate wastewater

In this study, a lab-scale expanded granular sludge bed reactor was continuously operated to treat high-nitrate wastewater containing different concentrations of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)). Nearly complete nitrate removal was achieved even at 120 mg/L influent Cr(VI). Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene showed that Cr(VI) decreased the biodiversity of the bacterial community and potential denitrifiers. Proteobacteria dominated in the bioreactor, and Betaproteobacteria had increased abundance after Cr(VI) feeding. Thauera and Halomonas were the two predominant genera in the bioreactor fed with Cr(VI), demonstrating opposite responses to the Cr(VI) stress. Metagenomic analysis indicated that Cr(VI) feeding posed no obvious effect on the overall function of the bacterial community, but altered the abundance of specific denitrifying genes, which was evidenced by quantitative real time PCR. This study revealed that Halomonas mainly contributed to the denitrification under no or low Cr(VI) stress, while Thauera played a more important role under high Cr(VI) stress.

Bacterial structure of aerobic granules is determined by aeration mode and nitrogen load in the reactor cycle

This study investigated how the microbial composition of biomass and kinetics of nitrogen conversions in aerobic granular reactors treating high-ammonium supernatant depended on nitrogen load and the number of anoxic phases in the cycle. Excellent ammonium removal and predomination of full nitrification was observed in the reactors operated at 1.1 kg TKN m(-3) d(-1) and with anoxic phases in the cycle. In all reactors, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria predominated, comprising between 90.14% and 98.59% of OTUs. Extracellular polymeric substances-producing bacteria, such as Rhodocyclales, Xanthomonadaceae, Sphingomonadales and Rhizobiales, were identified in biomass from all reactors, though in different proportions. Under constant aeration, bacteria capable of autotrophic nitrification were found in granules, whereas under variable aeration heterotrophic nitrifiers such as Pseudomonas sp. and Paracoccus sp. were identified. Constant aeration promoted more even bacteria distribution among taxa; with 1 anoxic phase, Paracoccus aminophilus predominated (62.73% of OTUs); with 2 phases, Corynebacterium sp. predominated (65.10% of OTUs).