ABSTRACT
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 specific ammonium oxidization rate (SAOR) increased from 0.17 to 0.51 g N/(g VSS x d) and then decreased to 0.22 g N/(g VSS x 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 x 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.
Subject(s)
Biofilms , Bioreactors , Membranes, Artificial , Nitrates/isolation & purification , In Situ Hybridization, FluorescenceABSTRACT
Bioaugmentation of bioreactors focuses on the removal of numerous organics, with little attention typically paid to the maintenance of high and stable nitrite accumulation in partial nitrification. In this study, a bioaugmented membrane bioreactor (MBR) inoculated with enriched ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) was developed, and the effects of dissolved oxygen (DO) and temperature on stability of partial nitrification and microbial community structure, in particular on nitrifying community were evaluated. The results showed that DO and temperature played the most important roles in the stability of partial nitrification in the bioaugmented MBR. The optimal operation conditions were found at 2-3 mgDO/L and 30 degrees C, achieving 95% ammonia oxidization efficiency and 0.95 of nitrite ratio (NO2-/NOx-). High-DO (5-6 mg/L) and low-temperature (20 degrees C) had negative impacts on nitrite accumulation, leading to its drop to 0.6. However, the nitrite ratio achieved in the bioaugmented MBR was higher than that in most previous literatures. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were used to provide an insight into the microbial community. It showed that Nitrosomonas-like species as the only detected AOB remained predominant in the bioaugmented MBR all the time, which coexisted with numerous heterotrophic bacteria. The heterotrophic bacteria responsible for mineralizing soluble microbial products (SMP) produced by nitrifiers belonged to Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides (CFB) group, alpha-, beta-, and gamma- Proteobacteria. The fraction of AOB ranging from 77% to 54% was much higher than that of NOB (0.4-0.9%), which might be the primary cause for the high and stable nitrite accumulation in the bioaugmented MBR.
