关键词:
AnAOB
Biological nitrogen removal
Nitrification
Nutrient removal and recovery
Sludge reject water
Packed-bed biofilm reactor
摘要:
Anammox, the oxidation of ammonium with nitrite, is a key microbial process in the nitrogen cycle. Under mesophilic conditions (below 40 degrees C), it is widely implemented to remove nitrogen from wastewaters lacking organic carbon. Despite evidence of the presence of anammox bacteria in high-temperature environments, reports on the cultivation of thermophilic anammox bacteria are limited to a short-term experiment of 2 weeks. This study showcases the adaptation of a mesophilic inoculum to thermophilic conditions, and its characterization. First, an attached growth technology was chosen to obtain the process. In an anoxic fixed-bed biofilm bioreactor (FBBR), a slow linear temperature increase from 38 to over 48 degrees C (0.05-0.07 degrees C d(-1)) was imposed to the community over 220 days, after which the reactor was operated at 48 degrees C for over 200 days. Maximum total nitrogen removal rates reached up to 0.62 g N L-1 d(-1). Given this promising performance, a suspended growth system was tested. The obtained enrichment culture served as inoculum for membrane bioreactors (MBR) operated at 50 degrees C, reaching a maximum total nitrogen removal rate of 1.7 g N L-1 d(-1) after 35 days. The biomass in the MBR had a maximum specific anammox activity of 1.1 +/- 0.1 g NH4+-N g(-1) VSS d(-1), and the growth rate was estimated at 0.075-0.19 d(-1). The thermophilic cultures displayed nitrogen stoichiometry ratios typical for mesophilic anammox: 0.93-1.42 g NO2--N-removed g(-1) NH4+-N-removed and 0.16-0.35 g NO3--N-produced g(-1) NH4+-N-removed. Amplicon and Sanger sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes revealed a disappearance of the original "Ca. Brocadia" and "Ca. Jettenia" taxa, yielding Planctomycetes members with only 94-95% similarity to "Ca. Brocadia anammoxidans" and "Ca. B. caroliniensis", accounting for 45% of the bacterial FBBR community. The long-term operation of thermophilic anammox reactors and snapshot views on the nitrogen stoichiometry, kinetics and microb