Effects of Different Concentrations of Ammonia Nitrogen on N_2O Emission in the Process of Partial Nitrification

[Objective] The study aimed to discuss the effects of different concentrations of ammonia nitrogen on N2O emission in the process of partial nitrification. [Method] By using a sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) under intermittent aeration, the influences of various concentrations of influent ammonia nitrogen on nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from partial nitrification were analyzed. [Result] When the concentration of influent ammonia nitrogen varied from 200 to 400 mg/L, the changing trends of DO and ORP value were consistent during the process of partial nitrification, and the concentration ratio of NO-2-N to NH+4-N in effluent water reached 1∶1, with lower NO-3-N level. In addition, ammonia nitrogen concentration in the influent had significant effects on N2O emission in the process of partial nitrification, that is, the higher the ammonia nitrogen concentration, the more the N2O emission. When ammonia nitrogen concentration was 400 mg/L, N2O emission was up to about 37 mg. [Conclusion] N2O emission in the process of partial nitrification might be related to the concentrations of NH+4 and NO-2.

Feasibility of low-intensity ultrasound treatment with hydroxylamine to accelerate the initiation of partial nitrification and allow operation under intermittent aeration

Partial nitrification is a key aspect of efficient nitrogen removal,although practically it suf-fers from long start-up cycles and unstable long-term operational performance.To address these drawbacks,this study investigated the effect of low intensity ultrasound treatment combined with hydroxylamine(NH2OH)on the performance of partial nitrification.Results showthat compared with the control group,low-intensity ultrasound treatment(0.10W/mL,15 min)combined with NH2OH(5 mg/L)reduced the time required for partial nitrification initiation by 6 days,increasing the nitrite accumulation rate(NAR)and ammonia nitro-gen removal rate(NRR)by 20.4% and 6.7%,respectively,achieving 96.48% NRR.Mechanis-tic analysis showed that NH2OH enhanced ammonia oxidation,inhibited nitrite-oxidizing bacteria(NOB)activity and shortened the time required for partial nitrification initiation.Furthermore,ultrasonication combined with NH2OH dosing stimulated EPS(extracellular polymeric substances)secretion,increased carbonyl,hydroxyl and amine functional group abundances and enhanced mass transfer.In addition,16S rRNA gene sequencing results showed that ultrasonication-sensitive Nitrospira disappeared from the ultrasound+NH_(2)OH system,while Nitrosomonas gradually became the dominant group.Collectively,the results of this study provide valuable insight into the enhancement of partial nitrification start-up during the process of wastewater nitrogen removal.

Effect of initial ammonium concentration on a one-stage partial nitrification/anammox biofilm system:Nitrogen removal performance and the microbial community

One-stage partial nitrification coupled with anammox(PN/A)technology effectively reduces the energy consumption of a biological nitrogen removal system.Inhibiting nitrite-oxidizing bacteria(NOB)is essential for this technology to maintain efficient nitrogen removal performance.Initial ammonium concentration(IAC)affects the degree of inhibited NOB.In this study,the effect of the IAC on a PN/A biofilm was investigated in a moving bed biofilm reactor.The results showed that nitrogen removal efficiency decreased from 82.49%±1.90%to 64.57%±3.96%after the IAC was reduced from 60 to 20 mg N/L,while the nitrate production ratio increased from 13.87%±0.90%to 26.50%±3.76%.NOB activity increased to1,133.86 mg N/m^(2)/day after the IAC decreased,approximately 4-fold,indicating that the IAC plays an important inhibitory role in NOB.The rate-limiting step in the mature biofilm of the PN/A system is the nitritation process and is not shifted by the IAC.The analysis of the microbial community structure in the biofilm indicates that the IAC was the dominant factor in changes in community structure.Ca.Brocadia and Ca.Jettenia were the main anammox bacteria,and Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira were the main AOB and NOB,respectively.IAC did not affect the difference in growth between Ca.Brocadia and Ca.Jettenia.Thus,modulating the IAC promoted the PN/A process with efficient nitrogen removal performance at medium to low ammonium concentrations.

Removal of pathogenic indicator microorganisms during partial nitrification:the role of free nitrous acid

Digested wastewater contains pathogenic microorganisms and high ammonia concentrations,which can pose a potential risk to public health.Effective removal of pathogens and nitrogen is crucial for the post-treatment of digested wastewater.Partial nitrification-anammox is an energy-saving nitrogen removal process.Free nitrous acid(FNA),an intermediate product of partial nitrification,has the potential to inactivate microorganisms.However,the efficiency and mechanisms of FNA-related inactivation in pathogens during partial nitrification remains unclear.In this study,Enterococcus and Escherichia coli(E.coli)were selected to investigate the efficiency and mechanisms of FNA-related inactivation in partial nitrification process.The results revealed that 83%±13%and 59%±27%of E.coli and Enterococcus were removed,respectively,in partial nitrification process at FNA concentrations of 0.023−0.028 mg/L.When the concentration of FNA increased from 0 to 0.5 mg/L,the inactivation efficiencies of E.coli and Enterococcus increased from 0 to 99.9%and 89.9%,respectively.Enterococcus exhibited a higher resistance to FNA attack compared to E.coli.3D-laser scanning microscopy(3D-LSM)and scanning electron microscopy(SEM)revealed that FNA exposure caused the surface collapse of E.coli and Enterococcus,as well as visible pore formation on the surface of E.coli cells.4',6-Diamidino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride n-hydrate(DAPI)/propidium iodide(PI)and biomolecule leakage confirmed that inactivation of E.coli and Enterococcus occurred due to breakdown of cell walls and cell membranes.These findings indicate that partial nitrification process can be used for the removal of residual pathogenic microorganisms.

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.

The effect of dissolved oxygen concentration on long-term stability of partial nitrification process

Dissolved oxygen(DO)concentration is regarded as one of the crucial factors to influence partial nitrification process.However,achieving and keeping stable partial nitrification under different DO concentrations were widely reported.The mechanism of DO concentration influencing partial nitrification is still unclear.Therefore,in this study two same sequencing batch reactors(SBRs)cultivated same seeding sludge were built up with realtime control strategy.Different DO concentrations were controlled in SBRs to explore the effect of DO concentration on the long-term stability of partial nitrification process at room temperature.It was discovered that ammonium oxidation rate(AOR)was inhibited when DO concentration decreased from 2.5 to 0.5 mg/L.The abundance of Nitrospira increased from 1011.5 to 1013.7 copies/g DNA,and its relative percentage increased from 0.056%to 3.2%during 190 operational cycles,causing partial nitrification gradually turning into complete nitrification process.However,when DO was 2.5 mg/L the abundance of Nitrospira was stable and AOB was always kept at 1010.7 copies/g DNA.High AOR was maintained,and stable partial nitrification process was kept.Ammonia oxidizing bacteria(AOB)activity was significantly higher than nitrite oxidizing bacteria(NOB)activity at DO of 2.5 mg/L,which was crucial to maintain excellent nitrite accumulation performance.

Nitrifiers activity and community characteristics under stress conditions in partial nitrification systems treating ammonium-rich wastewater

Long-term exposure of nitrifiers to high concentrations of free ammonia （FA） and free nitrous add （FNA） may affect nitrifiers activity and nitrous oxide （N2O） emission. Two sequencing batch reactors （SBRs） were operated at influent ammonium nitrogen （NH4-N） concentrations of 800 mg/L （SBRH） and 33S mg/L （SBRL）, respectively. The NH4-N removal rates in SBRH and SBRL were around 2.4 and 1.0 g/L/day with the nitritation efficiencies of 99.3% and 95.7%, respectively. In the simulated SBR cycle, the N20 emission factors were 1.61% in SBRH and 2.30% in SBRL. N2O emission was affected slightly by FA with the emission factor of 0.22%-0.65%, while N2O emission increased with increasing FNA concentrations with the emission factor of 0.22%～3.96%. The dominant ammonia oxidizing bacteria （AOB） were Nitrosomonas spp. in both reactors, and their relative proportions were 38.89% in SBRH and 13.36% in SBRL. Within the AOB genus, a species （i.e., operational taxonomic unit [OTU] 76） that was phylogenetically identical to Nitrosomonas europaea accounted for 99.07% and 82.04% in SBRH and SBRL, respectively. Additionally, OTU 215, which was related to Nitrosomonas stercoris, accounted for 16.77% of the AOB in SBRL.

Effects of Aeration Rates and Patterns on Shortcut Nitrification and Denitrification

The effects of aeration rates and aeration patterns on the oxidation of ammonia-nitrogen into nitrite were investigated. The influent high ammonia-nitrogen synthetic wastewater resembled to those of the catalytic process of the petrochemical refinery. The method involved the biological shortcut nitrification and denitrification lab-scale’s sequencing batch reactor (SBR) process based on intermittent aerations and aeration patterns. All the operations were carried out in a 20 L working volume SBR bioreactor, and the influent synthetic wastewater’s concentration was always 1000 mg/L ammonia-nitrogen NH4-N concentration at a C/N (carbon/nitrogen) ratio of 2.5:1. Effective shortcut nitrification to nitrite was registered at 1.1 mg-O2/L (i.e. 9 L-air/min) with 99.1% nitrification efficiency, 99.0% nitritation rate and 2.6 mg-NO3--N/L nitrate concentration. The best results with 99.3% nitrification efficiency were recorded when operating at 1.4 mg-O2/L (i.e. 12 L-air/min). According to these experiments, it results that the nitrite accumulation rate was related to aeration rate and cycle’s duration. However, at 1.7 mg-O2/L (i.e. 15 L-air/min), the system was limited by an increase in nitrate concentration with more than 5 mg/L which could be a point of reverse to conventional nitrification. The best total nitrogen (TN) removal was about 71.5%.

Responses of nitrification performance,triclosan resistome and diversity of microbes to continuous triclosan stress in activated sludge system

Triclosan(TCS)is commonly found in wastewater treatment plants,which often affects biological treatment processes.The responses of nitrification,antibiotic resistome and microbial community under different TCS concentrations in activated sludge system were evaluated in this study.The experiment was conducted in a sequencing batch reactor(SBR)for 240 days.Quantitative PCR results demonstrated that the abundance of ammonium oxidizing bacteria could be temporarily inhibited by 1 mg/L TCS and then gradually recovered.And the abundances of nitrite oxidizing bacteria(NOB)under 2.5 and 4 mg/L TCS were three orders of magnitude lower than that of seed sludge,which accounted for partial nitrification.When the addition of TCS was stopped,the abundance of NOB increased.The mass balance experiments of TCS demonstrated that the primary removal pathway of TCS changed from adsorption to biodegradation as TCS was continuously added into the SBR system.Moreover,TCS increased the abundance of mexB,indicating the efflux pump might be the main TCS-resistance mechanism.As a response to TCS,bacteria could secrete more protein(PN)than polysaccharide.Three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix revealed that tryptophan PN-like substances might be the main component in PN to resist TCS.High-throughput sequencing found that the relative abundances of Paracoccus,Pseudoxanthomonas and Thauera increased,which could secrete extracellular polymeric substances(EPS).And Sphingopyxis might be the main TCS-degrading bacteria.Overall,TCS could cause partial nitrification and increase the relative abundances of EPS-secreting bacteria and TCS-degrading bacteria.

Mechanism studies on nitrogen removal when treating ammonium-rich leachate by sequencing batch biofilm reactor

The nitrogen removal mechanism was studied and analyzed when treating the ammonium-rich landfill leachate by a set of sequencing batch biofilm reactors(SBBRs),which was designed independently.At the liquid temperature of(32P0.4)°C,and after a 58-days domestica-tion period and a 33-days stabilization period,the efficiency of ammonium removal in the SBBR went up to 95%.Highly frequent intermittent aeration suppressed the activity of nitratebacteria,and also eliminated the influence on the activity of anaerobic ammonium oxidation(ANAMMOX)bacteria and nitritebacteria.This influence was caused by the accumulation of nitrous acid and the undulation of pH.During the aeration stage,the concentration of dissolved oxygen was controlled at 1.2-1.4 mg/L.The nitritebacteria became dominant and nitrite accumulated gradually.During the anoxic stage,along with the concentration debasement of the dissolved oxygen,ANAMMOX bacteria became domi-nant;then,the nitrite that was accumulated in the aeration stage was wiped off with ammonium simultaneously.

Start-up of PN-anammox system under low inoculation quantity and its restoration after low-loading rate shock

Partial nitritation(PN)-anaerobic ammonium oxidation(anammox)is a promising pathway for the biological treatment of wastewater.However,the destruction of the system caused by excessive accumulation of nitrate in long-term operation remains a challenge.In this study,PNanammox was initialized with low inoculation quantity in an air-lift reactor.The nitrogen removal rate of 0.71 kgN/(m^(3)·d)was obtained,which was far higher than the seed sludge(0.3 kgN/(m^(3)·d)).Thereafter,excess nitrate build-up was observed under low-loading conditions,and recovery strategies for the PN-anammox system were investigated.Experimental results suggest that increasing the nitrogen loading rate as well as the concentration of free ammonium failed to effectively suppress the nitrite oxidation bacteria(NOB)after the PN-anammox system was disrupted.Afterwards,effluent back-flow was added into the reactor to control the up-flow velocity.As a result,an aggressive discharge of sludge that promoted the synergetic growth of functional bacteria was achieved,leading to the successful restoration of the PN-anammox system.The partial nitritation and anammox activity were in balance,and an increase in nitrogen removal rate up to 1.07 kgN/(m^(3)·d)was obtained with a nitrogen removal efficiency of 82.4%after recovery.Besides,the proportion of granular sludge(over 200 mm)increased from 33.67%to 82.82%.Ammonium oxidation bacteria(AOB)along with anammox bacteria were enriched in the granular sludge during the recovery period,which was crucial for the recovery and stable operation of the PN-anammox system.

Achievement of high rate nitritation with aerobic granular sludge reactors enhanced by sludge recirculation events

A ratio control strategy has been used to demonstrate the feasibility of this automatic control procedure for the achievement of stable full and partial nitritation. The control strategy assured constant ratio between the dissolved oxygen （DO） and the total ammonia nitrogen （TAN） concentrations in the bulk liquid of aerobic granular sludge reactors operating in continuous mode. Three different set-ups with different reactor capacities were used （3, 110, and 150L）. High strength synthetic wastewaters and reject water were tested with similar performance. Achieved nitrogen loading rates ranged between 0.4 and 6.1 kgN· m^-3·d^-1, at temperatures between 20℃ and 30℃. 1Granular sludge and nitritation were stable in the long term continuous operation of the reactors. Suitable stable effluent for Anammox has been obtained using the desired TAN setpoint （i.e. 50% of influent ammonium oxidation）. An existing biofilm model devel- oped incorporating the implemented control loops and validated in a previous publication was used to investigate the effects of the ammonium concentration of the influent and the biofilm density on the achievement of full nitritation. The model demonstrated how sludge recirculation events led to a stable and significant increase of the biomass concentration in the reactor, which in turn resulted in the achievement of high nitrogen loading rates, due to the action of the control strategy. The model predicted an enhancement of stable full nitritation at higher ammonium concentrations in the influent. Poor influence of the biofilm density in the achievement of full nitritation was predicted with the model.