Removal of ammonium and nitrate through Anammox and FeS-driven autotrophic denitrification

doi:10.1007/s11783-023-1674-4

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2023, Vol. 17

Issue (6) : 74 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1674-4

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Removal of ammonium and nitrate through Anammox and FeS-driven autotrophic denitrification

Yanfei Wang^1,², Xiaona Zheng^1,², Guangxue Wu³, Yuntao Guan^1,²(

)

¹. Guangdong Provincial Engineering Research Center for Urban Water Recycling and Environmental Safety, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
². State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
³. Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway H91 TK33, Ireland

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Abstract

● Simultaneous NH₄⁺/NO₃^– removal was achieved in the FeS denitrification system

● Anammox coupled FeS denitrification was responsible for NH₄⁺/NO₃^– removal

● Sulfammox, Feammox and Anammox occurred for NH₄⁺ removal

● Thiobacillus, Nitrospira , and Ca. Kuenenia were key functional microorganisms

An autotrophic denitrifying bioreactor with iron sulfide (FeS) as the electron donor was operated to remove ammonium (NH₄⁺) and nitrate (NO₃⁻) synergistically from wastewater for more than 298 d. The concentration of FeS greatly affected the removal of NH₄⁺/NO₃⁻. Additionally, a low hydraulic retention time worsened the removal efficiency of NH₄⁺/NO₃⁻. When the hydraulic retention time was 12 h, the optimal removal was achieved with NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻ removal percentages both above 88%, and the corresponding nitrogen removal loading rates of NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻ were 49.1 and 44.0 mg/(L·d), respectively. The removal of NH₄⁺ mainly occurred in the bottom section of the bioreactor through sulfate/ferric reducing anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Sulfammox/Feammox), nitrification, and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) by functional microbes such as Nitrospira, Nitrosomonas, and Candidatus Kuenenia. Meanwhile, NO₃⁻ was mainly removed in the middle and upper sections of the bioreactor through autotrophic denitrification by Ferritrophicum, Thiobacillus, Rhodanobacter, and Pseudomonas, which possessed complete denitrification-related genes with high relative abundances.

Keywords Anammox Denitrification FeS NH₄⁺/NO₃⁻ Sulfammox

Corresponding Author(s): Yuntao Guan

Issue Date: 22 December 2022

Cite this article:

Yanfei Wang,Xiaona Zheng,Guangxue Wu, et al. Removal of ammonium and nitrate through Anammox and FeS-driven autotrophic denitrification[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2023, 17(6): 74.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-023-1674-4
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2023/V17/I6/74

Tab.1 Operation parameters of the reactor

Fig.1 Dynamics of influent and effluent (a) NH₄⁺-N, (b) NO₃^–-N, and (c) NO₂^–-N concentrations.

Fig.2 Dynamics of key parameters for different feed modes ((a–c), influent of NH₄⁺ and NO₃^–, (d–f), influent of only NH₄⁺), including nitrogen concentrations of NH₄⁺-N, NO₂^–-N, and NO₃^–-N (a, d), the nitrogen conversion pathways based on the mass balance along the flow path of the bioreactor (b, e), and the concentrations of S^2–, SO₄^2–, total-Fe, Fe^{2 +}(c, f) in this reactor.

Fig.3 Microbial activities of functional microorganisms for Sulfammox (Sulfam), Feammox (Feam), nitrification (Nitrifi), Anammox (Anam), denitrification (Denitri) processes in the reactor (suspended sludge system (a–b), the entire system of biofilm and suspended sludge (c–d), N-loss: total inorganic nitrogen loss).

Fig.4 Variations of the measured effluent SO₄^2– (a), and total-Fe concentrations (b) during the long-term operation.

Fig.5 The relative abundances of microbial community at the genus level (top 35) sampled from inoculum (Day 0) and Days 66, 156, 208, 235, 275 at different heights.

Fig.6 Relative abundances of nitrogen metabolism (a) and sulfur metabolism (b) related enzymes harbored by functional microorganisms in the reactor.

Fig.7 The proposed synergistic pathways of NH₄⁺/ NO₃^– removal in this system (FeRB and SRB are referred to iron-reducing bacteria and sulfate-reducing bacteria, respectively).

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