Achieving simultaneous removal of carbon and nitrogen by an integrated process of anaerobic membrane bioreactor and flow-through biofilm reactor

In this study,a combined system consisting of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor(AnMBR)and flow-through biofilm reactor/CANON(FTBR/CANON)was developed to simultaneously remove carbon and nitrogen from synthetic livestock wastewater.The average removal efficiencies of total nitrogen(TN)were 64.2 and 76.4%with influent ammonium(NH4+-N)concentrations of approximately 200 and 500 mg/L,respectively.The COD removal efficiencies were higher than 98.0%during the entire operation.Mass balance analysis showed that COD and TN were mainly removed by the AnMBR and FTBR/CANON,respectively.The anammox process was the main nitrogen removal pathway in the combined system,with a contribution of over 80%.High functional bacterial activity was observed in the combined system.Particularly,an increase in the NH4+-N concentration considerably improved the anammox activity of the biofilm in the FTBR/CANON.16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing revealed that Methanosaeta,Candidatus Methanofastidiosum,and Methanobacterium were the dominant methanogens in the AnMBR granular sludge.In the CANON biofilm,Nitrosomonas and Candidatus Kuenenia were identified as aerobic and anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria,respectively.In summary,this study proposes a combined AnMBR and FTBR/CANON process targeting COD and nitrogen removal,and provides a potential alternative for treating high-strength wastewater.

Methanation and chemolitrophic nitrogen removal by an anaerobic membrane bioreactor coupled partial nitrification and Anammox

An AnMBR-PN/A system was developed for mainstream sewage treatment.To verify the efficient methanation and subsequent chemolitrophic nitrogen removal,a long-term experiment and analysis of microbial activity were carried out.AnMBR performance was less affected by the change of hydraulic retention time(HRT),which could provide a stable influent for subsequent PN/A units.The COD removal efficiency of AnMBR was>93%during the experiment,85.5%of COD could be recovered in form of CH4.With the HRT of PN/A being shortened from 10 to 6 h,nitrogen removal efficiency(NRE)of PN/A increased from 60.5%to 80.4%,but decreased to 68.8%when the HRTPN/A further decreased to 4 h.Microbial analysis revealed that the highest specific ammonia oxidation activity(SAOA)and the ratio of SAOA to specific nitrate oxidation activity(SNOA)provide stable NO_(2)^(−)-N/NH_(4)^(+)-N for anammox,and anammox bacteria(mainly identified as Candidatus Brocadia)enriched at the bottom of Anammox-UASB might play an important role in nitrogen removal.In addition,the decrease of COD in Anammox-UASB indicated partial denitrification occurred,which jointly promoted nitrogen removal with anammox.

Microbial characteristics in anaerobic membrane bioreactor treating domestic sewage:Effects of HRT and process performance

Two anaerobic membrane bioreactors(AnMBRs)equipped with different membrane pore size(0.4 or 0.05μm)were operated at 25℃and fed with domestic wastewater.The hydraulic retention time(HRT)of the reactors was shortened.The microbial communities of the two AnMBRs were investigated by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to see the effects of HRT.The predominant Archaea was an aceticlastic methanogen Methanosaeta.The composition of hydrogenotrophic methanogens changed with the HRTs:the population of Methanobacterium was higher for longer HRTs,whereas the population of unclassified Methanoregulaceae was higher for shorter HRTs.The Anaerolineae,Bacteroidia and Clostridia bacteria were dominant in both of the reactors,with a combined relative abundance of over 55%.The relative abundance of Anaerolineae was proportional to the biogas production performance.The change in the population of hydrogenotrophic methanogens or Anaerolineae can be used as an indicator for process monitoring.The sum of the relative abundance of Anaerolineae and Clostridia fluctuated slightly with changes in the HRT in both AnMBRs when the reactor was stably operated.The co-occurrence analysis revealed the relative abundance of the operational taxonomic units belonging to Anaerolineae and Clostridia was functionally equivalent during the treatment of real domestic sewage.A principal coordination analysis revealed that the changes in the microbial community in each reactor were consistent with the change of HRT.In addition,both the HRT and the stability of the process are important factors for maintaining microbial community structures.

Membrane fouling control by ultrasound in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor

fouling online in an anaerobic membrane bioreac-tor(AMBR).Short-term running experiments were carried out under different operating conditions to explore feasible ultrasonic parameters.The experimental results indicated that when the crossflow velocity was more than 1.0 m/s,mem-brane fouling could be controlled effectively only by hydro-dynamic methods without ultrasound.When ultrasound was applied,an ultrasonic power range of 60-150 W was suitable for the membrane fouling control in the experimental system.The experimental results showed that the membrane fouling was controlled so well that membrane filtration resistance(ΣR)could stay at 5×10^(11)m^(−1) for more than a week with the crossflow velocity of 0.75 m/s,which equaled the effect of crossflow velocity of more than 1.0 m/s without ultrasound.

Impact of food to microorganism ratio and alcohol ethoxylate dosage on methane production in treatment of low-strength wastewater by a submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor

The effects of food to microorganism （FIM） ratio and alcohol ethoxylate （AE） dosage on the methane production potential were investigated in treatment of low-strength wastewater by a submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor （SAnMBR）. The fate of AE and its acute and/or chronic impact on the anaerobic microbes were also analyzed. The results indicated that AE had an inhibitory effect to methane production potential （lag-time depends on the AE dosage） and the negative effect attenuated subsequently and methane production could recover at FIM ratio of 0.088-0.357. VFA measurement proved that AE was degraded into small molecular organic acids and then converted into methane at lower FIM ratio （FIM 〈 0.158）. After long-term acclimation, anaerobic microbe could cope with the stress of AE by producing more EPS （extracellular polymeric substances） and SMP （soluble microbial products） due to its self-protection behavior and then enhance its tolerance ability. However, the methane production potential was considerably decreased when AE was present in wastewater at a higher FIM ratio of 1.054. Higher AE amount and FIM ratio may destroy the cell structure of microbe, which lead to the decrease of methane production activity of sludge and methane production potential.