Effects of hydraulic retention time on nitrification activities and population dynamics of a conventional activated sludge system

doi:10.1007/s11783-012-0397-8

Front Envir Sci Eng

2013, Vol. 7

Issue (1) : 43-48 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-012-0397-8

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effects of hydraulic retention time on nitrification activities and population dynamics of a conventional activated sludge system

Hongyan LI¹, Yu ZHANG¹, Min YANG¹(

), Yoichi KAMAGATA²

1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; 2. Research Institute of Genome-based Biofactory, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Sapporo 062-8517, Japan

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Abstract

The effects of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the nitrification activities and population dynamics of a conventional activated sludge system fed with synthetic inorganic wastewater were investigated over a period of 260 days. When the HRT was gradually decreased from 30 to 5 h, the specific ammonium-oxidizing rates (SAOR) varied between 0.32 and 0.45 kg NH4+-N (kg mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS)·d)^-1, and the specific nitrate-forming rates (SNFR) increased from 0.11 to 0.50 kg NO3--N (kg MLSS·d)^-1, showing that the decrease in HRT led to a significant increase in the nitrite oxidation activity. According to fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis results, the proportion of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOBs) among the total bacteria decreased from 33% to 15% with the decrease in HRT, whereas the fraction of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOBs), particularly the fast-growing Nitrobacter sp., increased significantly (from 4% to 15% for NOBs and from 1.5% to 10.6% for Nitrobacter sp.) with the decrease in HRT, which was in accordance with the changes in SNFR. A short HRT favored the relative growth of NOBs, particularly the fast-growing Nitrobacter sp., in the conventional activated sludge system.

Keywords ammonia-oxidizing bacteria hydraulic retention time nitrification activity nitrite-oxidizing bacteria population dynamics

Corresponding Author(s): YANG Min,Email:yangmin@rcees.ac.cn

Issue Date: 01 February 2013

Cite this article:

Hongyan LI,Yu ZHANG,Min YANG, et al. Effects of hydraulic retention time on nitrification activities and population dynamics of a conventional activated sludge system[J]. Front Envir Sci Eng, 2013, 7(1): 43-48.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-012-0397-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2013/V7/I1/43

Tab.1 Operational conditions and influent in a conventional activated sludge system

Tab.2 Average effluent SS values

Fig.1 Changes in SAOR and SNFR

Fig.2 Changes in different AOB fractions

Fig.3 Changes in oxidizers across the phases

Fig.4 AOB/NOB by FISH analysis and SAOR/SNFR across the phases

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