In situ probing of microbial activity within anammox granular biomass with microelectrodes

Anammox process in anaerobic baffled biofilm reactors with columnar packings: Characteristics of flow field and microbial community

The enrichment of anammox bacteria is a key issue in the application of anammox processes. A new type of reactor － anaerobic baffle biofilm reactor (ABBR) developed from anaerobic baffle reactor (ABR) was filled with columnar packings and established for effective enrichment of anammox bacteria. The flow field analysis showed that, compared with ABR, ABBR narrowed the dead zone so as to improve the substrate transferring performances. Two ABBRs with different types of columnar packings (Packings 1 and Packings 2) were constructed to culture anammox biofilms. Packings 1 consisted of the single-form honeycomb carriers while Packings 2 was modular composite packings consisting of non-woven fabric and honeycomb carriers. The effects of different types of columnar packings on microbial community and nitrogen removal were studied. The ABBR filled with Packings 2 had a higher retention rate of biomass than the ABBR filled with Packings 1, making the anammox start-up period be shortened by 21.28%. The enrichment of anammox bacteria were achieved and the dominant anammox bacteria were Candidatus Brocadia in both R1 and R2. However, there were four genera of anammox bacteria in R2 and one genus of anammox bacteria in R1, and the cell density of anammox bacteria in R2 was 95% higher than that in R1. R2 has the advantage of maintaining excellent and stable nitrogen removal performance at high nitrogen loading rate. The results revealed that the packings composed of two types of carriers may have a better enrichment effect on anammox bacteria. This study is of great significance for the rapid enrichment of anammox bacteria and the technical promotion of anammox process.

Achieving mainstream anammox in biological aerated filter by regulating bacteria community structure

Although mainstream partial nitrification-anammox (PN-A) is a highly efficient and sustainable wastewater treatment process, it is difficult to achieve and stabilize due to the competition among functional bacteria. In this study, achieving one-stage mainstream anammox via regulating bacteria community structure was studied in a lab-scale biological aerated filter (BAF). The results showed that high free ammonia with 89.57 mg/L, nitrite nitrogen (NO₂^--N) competition between anammox bacteria (AnAOB) and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB), and backwash regulated the bacteria community structure. After backwash, Candidatus Kuenenia became the dominant bacteria and the relative abundance increased to 5.56 %. In BAF, one-stage mainstream anammox with total nitrogen (TN) being lower than 15 mg/L in the effluent was achieved using lag-time of bacteria activity recovery caused by alternating operation of high and low ammonia nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N), which have great potential applied in municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWWTPs).

Quick start-up and stable operation of a one-stage deammonification reactor with a low quantity of AOB and ANAMMOX biomass

In this study, a quick start-up of one-stage deammonification in an immobilized aerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and anoxic ammonium oxidizing (ANAMMOX) bacteria up-flow reactor (IAAR) was successfully achieved. With the aid of gel layers, AOB and ANAMMOX bacteria had excellent spatial distribution, theoretically meeting dissolved oxygen requirements for the simultaneous processes of aerobic and anaerobic ammonium oxidizing. The results indicated that an IAAR containing 0.4 g-VSS L^-1 immobilized biomass achieved a nitrogen removal rate (NRR) of 0.53 kg-N m^-3 d^-1 after only 10 days of operation and subsequently reached a maximum nitrogen removal rate (NRR_max) of 3.73 kg-N m^-3 d^-1. The micro-profiles of DO and pH were measured using microelectrodes to help understand the stratification of the microbial processes inside the gel layers. The distribution of AOB and ANAMMOX bacteria within the gel layers was verified using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis. The community distribution in the FISH three-dimensional images closely corresponded to the micro-profiles of DO concentration and pH, enabling rapid adaptation and stable operation of the reactor seeded with a quite low quantity of biomass.

Effects of organic matter in livestock manure digester liquid on microbial community structure and in situ activity of anammox granules

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is a promising process for NH4(+)-rich wastewaters such as anaerobic digester liquids. In the present study, we investigated various properties of an up-flow column reactor containing anammox granules and fed with a real digester liquid at four different concentrations (Phases 1 to 4). The efficiencies of NH4(+) and NO2(-) removal decreased by up to 32% and 42%, respectively, in the digester-liquid-fed reactor (reactor-DL). When the performance of reactor-DL deteriorated, the community structure, spatial distribution, and in situ anammox activity in the two reactors were further investigated using 16S rRNA gene-based phylogenetic analysis, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and microelectrode measurements. The phylogenetic analysis and FISH results showed that non-anammox bacteria were predominant in the granule outer layers in reactor-DL, whereas anammox bacteria still dominated the granule interiors. Microelectrode measurements showed clear evidence of NH4(+) oxidation activity in the interiors of granules from reactor-DL. Batch experiments using anammox granules at different acetate concentrations indicated that concentrations up to 50 mM had no effects on the anammox activity, whereas inorganic carbon uptake decreased in the presence of acetate. The present study clearly shows that the anammox activity and anammox bacterial density in the granules were maintained after feeding the digester liquid to the reactor for 140 days.