Nitrite Accumulation during the Denitrification Process in SBR for the Treatment of Pre-treated Landfill Leachate

The nitrite accumulation in the denitrification process is investigated with sequencing batch reactor （SBR） treating pre-treated landfill leachate in anoxic/anaerobic up-flow anaerobic sludge bed I（UASB）. Nitrite accumulates obviously at different initial nitrate concentrations （64.9,54.8,49.3 and 29.5 mg·L^-1 ） and low temperatures, and the two break points on the oxidation-reduction potential （ORP） profile indicate the completion of nitrate and nitrite reduction. Usually, the nitrate reduction rate is used as the sole parameter to characterize the denitrification rate, and nitrite is not even measured. For accuracy, the total oxidized nitrogen （nitrate ＋ nitrite） is used as a measure, though details characterizing the process may be overlooked. Additionally, batch tests are conducted to investigate the effects of C/N ratios and types of carbon sources on the nitrite accumulation during the denitrification. It is observed that carbon source is sufficient for the reduction of nitrate to nitrite, but for further reduction of nitrite to nitrogen gas, is deficient when C/N is below the theoretical critical level of 3.75 based on the stoichiometry of denitrification. Five carbon sources used in this work, except for glucose, may cause the nitrite accumulation. From experimental results and cited literature, it is concluded that Alcaligene species may be contained in the SBR activated-sludge system.

Nitrogen Removal by Simultaneous Nitrification and Denitrification via Nitrite in a Sequence Hybrid Biological Reactor

Sequence hybrid biological reactor （SHBR） was proposed, and some key control parameters were investigated for nitrogen removal from wastewater by simultaneous nitrification and denitrification （SND） via nitrite. SND via nitrite was achieved in SHBR by controlling demand oxygen （DO） concentration. There was a programmed decrease of the DO from 2.50 mg·L^-1 to 0.30 mg·L^-1, and the average nitrite accumulation rate （NAR） was increased from 16.5% to 95.5% in 3 weeks. Subsequently, further increase in DO concentration to 1.50 mg·L^-1 did not destroy the partial nitrification to nitrite. The results showed that limited air flow rate to cause oxygen deficiency in the reactor would eventually induce only nitrification to nitrite and not further to nitrate. Nitrogen removal efficiency was increased with the increase in NAR, that is, NAR was increased from 60% to 90%, and total nitrogen removal efficiency was increased from 68% to 85%. The SHBR could tolerate high organic loading rate （OLR）, COD and ammonia-nitrogen removal efficiency were greater than 92% and 93.5%, respectively,, and it even operated under low DO concentration （0.5 mg·L^-1） and maintained high OLR （4.0 kg COD·m^-3·d^-1）. The presence of biofilm positively affected the activated sludge settling capability, and sludge volume index （SVI） of activated sludge in SHBR never hit more than 90 ml·L^-1 throughout the experiments.

Nitrification-denitrification via nitrite pathway in biological treatment of hypersaline wastewater

Pilot-scale studies on biological treatment of hypersaline wastewater at low temperature were conducted and results showed that seawater salinity had a strong negative effect on notrouomonas and nitrobaeter growth, but much more on the nitrobaeter. The nitrification action was mainly accomplished by nitrosomonas. Bench-scale experiments using two SBRs were carried out for further investigation under different conditions of salinities, ammonia loadings and temperatures. Biological nitrogen removal via nitrite pathway from wastewater containing 30 percent seawater was achieved, but the ammonia removal efficiency was strongly related not only to the influent ammonia loading at different salinities but also to temperatures. When the ratio of seawater to wastewater was 30 percent, and the ammonia loading was below the critical value of 0. 15 kgNH4 ^＋ -N/（ kgMLSS · d） , the ammonia removal efficiency via nitrite pathway was above 90 %. The critical level of ammonia loading was 0. 15, 0. 08 and 0. 03 kgNH4 ^＋ -N/（ kgMLSS · d） respectively at different temperatures of 30℃, 25℃ and 20℃ when the influent ammonia concentration was 60 - 80 mg/L and pH was 7.5 - 8.0.

Influence of Pyrolytic Biochar on Settleability and Denitrification of Activated Sludge Process

Biochar is a massively produced by-product of biomass pyrolysis to obtain renewable energy and has not been fully used. Incomplete separation of sludge and effluent and insufficient denitrification of sewage are two of main factors that influence the efficiency of activated sludge process. In this work, we proposed a new utilization of biochar and investigated the effect of biochar addition on the performance of settleability and denitrification of activated sludge. Results show that the addition of biochar can improve the settleability of activated sludge by changing the physicochemical characteristics of sludge （e.g., flocculating ability, zeta-potential, hydrophobicity, and extracellular polymeric substances constituents）. Moreover, the dissolved organic carbon released from biochar obtained at lower pyrolysis temperature can improve the nitrate removal efficiency to a certain extent.

Nitrification and Denitrification Activities and N_2O Emission of Orchard Soils Cultivated for Different Periods of Time

[Objective] The aim was to investigate the differences in nitrification and denitrification activities and the N20 emission of orchard soils cultivated for different periods of time. [Method] Incubation experiment was conducted to determine the ni- trification and denitrification activities and N20 emission of three types of orchard soil samples that had been cultivated for 5, 12 and 20 years, respectively, by using the virgin soil sample as control. [Result] After 26 d of incubation, the nitrification rates of nitrogen fertilizer in the virgin soil sample and the orchard soil samples cultivated for 5, 12 and 20 years were 6.85%, 10.26%, 13.29% and 12.90%, respectively, which were positively correlated with content of soil organic matter, ammonium nitro- gen and total nitrogen （P〈0.05）, and negatively correlated with soil carbon-nitrogen ratio and pH value （P〈0.05）. The denitrification activities of these soil samples in- creased with the increase of cultivation years. The amount of nitrogen loss by deni- trification accounted for 0.01%-3.11% of the amount of fertilizer nitrogen, and had a positive correlation with the content of soil organic matter （P〈0.05）. The N20 emis- sions of orchard soil samples were higher than that of the virgin soil samples （P〈 0.05）. [Conclusion] In South China, the nitrification activity of orchard soil is relatively low, but it has a tendency to increase as the cultivation years increases; the denitri- fication activity is relatively high, and increases significantly with the increase of culti- vation years.

Nitrogen Release Kinetics and Nitrification-Denitrification on Surface Sediments under Aerating Disturbance Condition

[Objective] This study aimed to investigate the nitrogen release kinetics and nitrification-denitrification on surface sediments under aerating disturbance condition, with the purpose to solve the sediment nitrogen release and secondary pollution problems. [Method] The effect of in situ sediments aeration on the release of nitrogen pollutants was investigated, and the nitrogen release kinetics parameters were analyzed. The process of nitrification and denitrification under sediments aeration condition was investigated in laboratory. [Result] The nitrogen released from sediments was enhanced by aeration disturbance. The concentration of NH4＋-N and TN reached the maximum value in 30 min, and release rates were proportional to the disturbance strength. In this study, with the distance of aerator to the sediments surface of 0, 1, 2 and 3 cm, the suspended sediments concentrations were 3.52, 3.41, 3.26 and 3.01 g/L, respectively. Maximum release concentration of NH4＋-N and TN were 14.3, 13.8, 13.2, 12.2 mg/L and 33.21, 30.98, 29.83, 27.30 mg/L, respec- tively. In addition, both NH4＋-N and TN release kinetics could be described by Double Constant Equation as InC=A＋Blnt. Nitrification reaction occurred and was promoted by continued aerating to sediments.The concentration of NH4＋-N dropped down from 12.4 mg/L to 0.2 mg/L in 8 d, with the concentration of NO3--N increased to the maximum value of 10.8 mg/L. In addition, concentration of NO3--N and TN decreased from 10.8 mg/L and 37.4 mg/L to 0.36 mg/L and 23.2 mg/L after the stop of aeration for 12 d, indicating the occurrence of denitdfication reaction. Therefore, sediment aeration could accelerate nitrogen release and nitrification reaction, and with intermittent aeration, nitrogen could be removed from sediments in-situ by nitrification and denitrification. [Conclusion] The results provided technical reference for the in situ sediment remediation for the black-odor rivers in cities.

Effect of carbon source on the denitrification in constructed wetlands

The ability of constructed wetlands with different plants in nitrate removal were investigated. The factors promoting the rates of denitrification including organic carbon, nitrate load, plants in wetlands, pH and water temperature in field were systematically investigated. The results showed that the additional carbon source （glucose） can remarkably improve the nitrate removal ability of the constructed wetland. It demonstrated that the nitrate removal rate can increase from 20% to more than 50% in summer and from 10% to 30% in winter, when the nitrate concentration was 30-40 rag/L, the retention time was 24 h and 25 mg/L dissolved organic carbon （DOC） was ploughed into the constructed wetland. However, the nitrite in the constructed wetland accumulated a little with the supply of the additional carbon source in summer and winter, and it increased from 0.15 to 2 mg/L in the effluent. It was also found that the abilities of plant in adjusting pH and temperature can result in an increase of denitrification in wetlands. The seasonal change may also impact the denitrification.

Simultaneous desulfurization and denitrification of sintering flue gas via composite absorbent

Experiments on simultaneous absorption of SO_2 and NO_X from sintering flue gas via a composite absorbent NaClO_2/NaClO were carried out. The effects of various operating parameters such as NaClO_2 concentration(ms), NaClO concentration(mp), molar ratio of NaClO_2/NaClO(M), solution temperature(TR), initial solution pH, gas flow(Vg) and inlet concentration of SO_2(CS) and NO(CN) on the removal efficiencies of SO_2 and NO were discussed. The optimal experimental conditions were determined to be initial solution pH = 6, TR=55 °C and M = 1.3 under which the average efficiencies of desulfurization and denitrification could reach99.7% and 90.8%, respectively. Moreover, according to the analysis of reaction products, it was found that adding NaClO to NaClO_2 aqueous solution is favorable for the generation of ClO_2 and Cl_2 which have significant effect on desulfurization and denitrification. Finally, engineering experiments were performed and obtained good results demonstrating that this method is practicable and promising.

Volatile fatty acids carbon source for biological denitrification

In the suspended sludge system, when pH and temperature were suitable and carbon source was not limited, the denitrification and C-uptake rate followed a zero-order reaction. Mixed VFA C-source had higher denitrification rate than single VFA C-source consisting of them. When VFA were used as carbon source, consumed carbon quantity for denitrification was closed to 1. 07 mg VFA-C/mg NO-N. About 20% of the applied C/N was used for assimilative purposes. As rising up influent C/N by increasing the C load ,the sludge yield YN increased. The part of carbon consumption increased and the effluent oxidized nitrogen decreased. At pH 7. 5, 25℃ and sludge yield 0.72 mg VSS/mg NO-N, the calculated influent VFA-C /NO critical value was 1. 43 for complete denitrification.

The integration of methanogenesis with denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation in an expanded granular sludge bed reactor

The integration of methanogenesis with denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation(ANAMMOX) was studied in an expanded granular sludge bed(EGSB) reactor in this work. Experimental results from the continuous treatment of wastewater with nitrite and ammonium, which lasted for 107 days, demonstrated that wastewater with high nitrite and ammonium could be anaerobically treated in an expanded granular sludge bed reactor. More than 91% to 97% of COD were removed at up to about 3.9 g COD/(L·d) of COD volumetric loading rate. More than 97% to 100% of nitrite was denitrified at up to about 0.8 g NO -_2-N/(L·d), which is 16 times higher than that in a conventional activated sludge system with nitrification/denitrification(0.05 gN/(L·d)). No dissimilatory reduction of nitrite to ammonium occurred in the process. However, maximum of about 40% ammonium was found to be lost. Batch tests of 15 days with sludge from the reactor showed that 100% of nitrite was denitrified completely, and about 3% of ammonium was removed when only ammonium (34.3 mg/L) and nitrite(34.3 mg/L) were added into the sludge suspension medium. Furthermore, about 15% of ammonium amounts were lost with organic COD addition. It suggested that the methanogenesis in the system could enhance ANAMMOX because of intermediate hydrogen produced during methanogenesis.

Significance of dredging on sediment denitrification in Meiliang Bay,China:A year long simulation study

An experiment for studying the effects of sediment dredging on denitrification in sediments was carried out through a one-year incubation of undredged （control） and dredged cores in laboratory. Dredging the upper 30 cm of sediment can significantly affect physico-chemical characteristics of sediments. Less degradation of organic matter in the dredged sediments was found during the experiment. Denitrification rates in the sediments were estimated by the acetylene blockage technique, and ranged from 21.6 to 102.7 nmol N2/（g dry weight （dw）-hr） for the undredged sediment and from 6.9 to 26.9 nmol N2/（g dw-hr） for dredged sediments. The denitrification rates in the undredged sediments were markedly higher （p 〈 0.05） than those in the dredged sediments throughout the incubation, with the exception of February 2006. The importance of various environmental factors on denitrification was assessed, which indicated that denitrification was regulated by temperature. Nitrate was probably the key factor limiting denitrification in both undredged and dredged sediments. Organic carbon played some role in determining the denitrification rates in the dredged sediments, but not in the undredged sediments. Sediment dredging influenced the mineralization of organic matter and denitrification in the sediment; and therefore changed the pattern of inherent cycling of nitrogen.

Community analysis of ammonia oxidizer in the oxygen-limited nitritation stage of OLAND system by DGGE of PCR amplified 16S rDNA fragments and FISH

OLAND(oxygen limited autotrophic nitrification and denitrification) nitrogen removal system was constructed by coupling with oxygen limited nitritation stage and anaerobic ammonium oxidation stage. Ammonia oxidizer, as a kind of key bacteria in N cycle, plays an important role at the oxygen limited nitritation stage of OLAND nitrogen removal system. In this study, specific amplification of 16S rDNA fragment of ammonia oxidizer by nested PCR, separation of mixed PCR samples by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis(DGGE), and the quantification of ammonia oxidizer by fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH) were combined to investigate the shifts of community composition and quantity of ammonia oxidizer of the oxygen limited nitritation stage in OLAND system. It showed that the community composition of ammonia oxidizer changed drastically when dissolved oxygen was decreased gradually, and the dominant ammonia oxidizer of the steady nitrite accumulation stage were completely different from that of the early stage of oxygen limited nitritation identified by DGGE . It was concluded that the Nitrosomonas may be the dominant genus of ammonia oxidizer at the oxygen limited nitritation stage of OLAND system characterized by nested PCR-DGGE and FISH, and the percentage of Nitrosomonas was 72.5% ±0.8% of ammonia oxidizer at the steady nitrite accumulation stage detected by FISH.

Effects of chlorothalonil and carbendazim on nitrification and denitrification in soils

The effects of chlorothalonil and carbendazim on nitrification and denitrification in six soils in upland and rice paddy environments were investigated. Laboratory aerobic （60% water holding capacity） and anaerobic （flooded） conditions were studied at 25℃ and fungicide addition rates of 5.5 mg/kg A. I. （field rate, FR）, 20 times （20FR） and 40 times （40FR） field rate, respectively. The results indicated that chlorothalonil at the field rate had a slight inhibitory effect on one soil only, and that soil did not nitrify much in the first place. But chlorothalonil at higher rates inhibited nitrification significantly in all soils. For soils JXP and JXU with a pH of less than 5.0, chlorothalonil almost completely stopped their nitrification at 20FR and 40FR during the whole 14 d incubation period. For soils HNP and HNU with a pH of greater than 8.0, chlorothalonil also significantly inhibit nitrification at 20FR and 40FR （p 〈 0.05）. However, NH4＋ that was added to the soil was also almost completely nitrified by the end of the incubation period in these two soils. The effects of chlorothalonil at 20FR and 40FR on the nitrification of JSP and JSU soils, with a pH of 5.4 and 7.2, respectively, were intermediate between the other soil types. Chlorothalonil had no effect on denitrification at the field rate and had little effect at the higher rates of application in some soils. Carbendazim had essentially no effect on nitrification and denitrification in soils assessed.

Denitrification potential enhancement by addition of external carbon sources in a pre-denitrification process

The aim of this study is to investigate the denitrification potential enhancement by addition of external carbon sources and to estimate the denitrification potential for the predenitrification system using nitrate utilization rate （NUR） batch tests. It is shown that the denitrification potential can be substantially increased with the addition of three external carbon sources, i.e. methanol, ethanol, and acetate, and the denitrification rates of ethanol, acetate, and methanol reached up to 9.6, 12, and 3.2 mgN/（g VSS.h）, respectively, while that of starch wastewater was only 0.74 mgN/（g VSS,h）. By comparison, ethanol was found to be the best external carbon source. NUR batch tests with starch wastewater and waste ethanol were carried out. The denitfification potential increased from 5.6 to 16.5 mg NO3-N/L owing to waste ethanol addition. By means of NUR tests, the wastewater characteristics and kinetic parameters can be estimated, which are used to determine the denitrification potential of wastewater, to calculate the denitrification potential of the plant and to predict the nitrate effluent quality, as well as provide information for developing carbon dosage control strategy.

Control factors of partial nitritation for landfill leachate treatment

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation （ANAMMOX） technology has potential technical superiority and economical efficiency for the nitrogen removal from landfill leachate, which contains high-strength ammonium nitrogen （NH4^＋-N） and refractory organics. To complete the ANAMMOX process, a preceding partial nitritation step to produce the appropriate ratio of nitrite/ammonium is a key stage. The objective of this study was to determine the optimal conditions to acquire constant partial nitritation for landfill leachate treatment, and a bench scale fixed bed bio-film reactor was used in this study to investigate the effects of the running factors on the partial nitritation. The results showed that both the dissolved oxygen （DO） concentration and the ammonium volumetric loading rate （Nv） had effects on the partial nitritation. In the controlling conditions with a temperature of 30±1℃, Nv of 0.2-1.0 kg NH4＋-N/（m^3·d）, and DO concentration of 0.8-2.3 mg/L, the steady partial nitritation was achieved as follows： more than 94% partial nitritation efficiency （nitrite as the main product）, 60%-74% NH4^＋-N removal efficiency, and NO2^--N/NH4^＋-N ratio （concentration ratio） of 1.0-1.4 in the effluent.The impact of temperature was related to Nv at certain DO concentration, and the temperature range of 25-30℃ was suitable for treating high strength ammonium leachate. Ammonium-oxidizing bacteria （AOB） could be acclimated to higher FA （free ammonium） in the range of 122-224 mg/L. According to the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis result of the bio-film in the reactor, there were 25 kinds of 16S rRNA gene fragments, which indicated that abundant microbial communities existed in the bio-film, although high concentrations of ammonium and FA may inhibit the growth of the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria （NOB） and other microorganisms in the reactor.

Temperature effect on aerobic denitrification and nitrification

Nitrogen loss without organic removal in biofilter was observed and its possible reason was explained. A lower hydraulic loading could improve aerobic denitrification rate. Aerobic denitrification was seriously affected by low temperature(below 10℃). However, nitrification rate remained high when the temperature dropped from 15℃ to 5℃. It seemed the autotrophic biofilm in BAF could alleviate the adverse effect of low temperature.

Anammox transited from denitrification in upflow biofilm reactor

Anammox was successfully transited from heterotrophic denitrification and autotrophic denitrification in two upflow biofilm reactors, respectively. The results showed that the volumetric loading rate and nitrogen removal efficiency in the reactor transited from heterotrophic denitrification were higher than that in its counterpart. When the hydraulic retention time was 12 h or so, the total nitrogen loading rate was about 0.609 kg N/(m3·d), and the effluent ammonia and nitrite concentrations were less than 8.5 mg/L and 2.5 mg/L, respectively. The upflow anammox biofilm reactor was capable of keeping and accumulating the slow-growing bacteria efficiently. During operation of the reactor, the biomass color was gradually turned from brownish to red, and the ratio of ammonia consumption, nitrite consumption and nitrate production approached the theoretical one. These changes could be used as an indicator for working state of the reactor.

An innovative membrane bioreactor and packed-bed biofilm reactor combined system for shortcut nitrification-denitrification

An innovative shortcut biological nitrogen removal system, consisting of an aerobic submerged membrane bioreactor （MBR） and an anaerobic packed-bed biofilm reactor （PBBR）, was evaluated for treating high strength ammonium-bearing wastewater. The system was seeded with enriched ammonia-oxidizing bacteria （AOB） and operated without sludge purge with a decreased hydraulic retention time （HRT） through three phases. MBR was successful in both maintaining nitrite ratio over 0.95 and nitrification efficiency higher than 98% at HRT of 24 h, and PBBR showed satisfactory denitrification efficiency with very low effluent nitrite and nitrate concentration （both below 3 mg/L）. By examining the nitrification activity of microorganism, it was found that the specifc ammonium oxidization rate （SAOR） increased from 0.17 to 0.51 g N/（g VSS.d） and then decreased to 0.22 g N/（g VSS.d） at the last phase, which resulted from the accumulation of extracellular polymers substances （EPS） and inert matters enwrapping around the zoogloea. In contrast, the average specific nitrite oxidization rate （SNOR） is 0.002 g N/（g VSS.d）, only 1% of SAOR. Because very little Nitrobactor has been detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization （FISH）, it is confirmed that the stability of high nitrite accumulation in MBR is caused by a large amount of AOB.

Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in step feeding biological nitrogen removal process

The simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in step-feeding biological nitrogen removal process were investigated under different influent substrate concentrations and aeration flow rates. Biological occurrence of simultaneous nitrification and denitrification was verified in the aspect of nitrogen mass balance and alkalinity. The experimental results also showed that there was a distinct linear relationship between simultaneous nitrification and denitrification and DO concentration under the conditions of low and high aeration flow rate. In each experimental run the floc sizes of activated sludge were also measured and the results showed that simultaneous nitrification and denitrification could occur with very small size of floc.

Determination of respiration, gross nitrification and denitrification in soil profile using BaPS system

A facility of BaPS （Barometric Process Separation） was used to determine soil respiration, gross nitrification and denitrification in a winter wheat field with depths of 0-7, 7--14 and 14-21 cm. N2O production was determined by a gas chromatograph. Crop root mass and relevant soil parameters were measured. Results showed that soil respiration and gross nitrification decreased with the increase of soil depth, while denitrification did not change significantly. In comparison with no-plowing plot, soil respiration increased significantly in plowing plot, especially in the surface soil of 0-7 cm, while gross nitrification and denitrification rates were not affected by plowing. Cropping practice in previous season was found to affect soil gross nitrification in the following wheat-growing season. Higher gross nitrification rate occurred in the filed plot with preceding crop of rice compared with that of maize for all the three depths of 0-7, 7-14 and 14-21 cm. A further investigation indicated that the nitrification for all the cases accounted for about 76% of the total nitrogen transformation processes of nitrification and denitrification and the N2O production correlated with nitrification significantly, suggesting that nitrification is a key process of soil N2O production in the wheat field. In addition, the variations of soil respiration and gross nitrification were exponentially dependent on root mass （p〈0.00l）.