A novel high-concentration powder bio-carrier (HPB) process was developed for the high-load treatment of low-strength municipal wastewater with low carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio (∼3). The powder carrier facilitated the rapid micro-granulation of sludge within 20 days and the average particle size increased rapidly from 47 μm to 210 μm. Accordingly, the concentration of mixed liquid volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) increased from 1.8 g/L to 4.3 g/L, which enabled the HPB process to maintain a short hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 3.6 h. Correspondingly, the high volumetric load of 0.4–1.3 kg chemical oxygen demand (COD)/(m³∙d) and 0.12–0.24 kg total nitrogen (TN)/(m³∙d) could be achieved and twice higher than those of conventional activated sludge process, e.g., anaerobic/anoxic/oxic process. The carrier-induced sludge granulation also significantly optimized the microbial structure, and the high-throughput sequencing revealed the increasing abundances of denitrifying bacteria and anammox bacteria, which was consistent with the nitrogen removal efficiency rising from 44.6% to 77.4%. Accordingly, the enhanced nitrogen removal could be achieved with TN of effluent steadily below 5 mg/L. Especially, the mass balance analysis on carbon and nitrogen further indicated the advantage of newly developed HPB process in carbon source saving for nitrogen removal. All the results are believed to suggest a promising strategy for the highly efficient treatment of low-strength municipal wastewater.

开发了一种新型高浓度粉末生物载体 (HPB) 工艺，用于高负荷处理低碳/氮 (C/N) 比 (~3) 的低强度城市污水。粉末载体促进了污泥在 20 天内快速微颗粒化，平均粒径从 47 μm 迅速增加到 210 μm。因此，混合液体挥发性悬浮固体 (MLVSS) 的浓度从 1.8 g/L 增加到 4.3 g/L，这使得 HPB 工艺能够保持 3.6 小时的短水力停留时间 (HRT)。相应地，0.4-1.3 kg 化学需氧量 (COD)/(m ³ ∙d) 和 0.12-0.24 kg 总氮 (TN)/(m ³∙d) 可以达到并且比传统活性污泥工艺高两倍，例如厌氧/缺氧/好氧工艺。载体诱导污泥造粒也显着优化了微生物结构，高通量测序揭示了反硝化细菌和厌氧氨氧化细菌的丰度增加，这与脱氮效率从44.6%上升到77.4%一致。因此，当出水总氮稳定在 5mg/L 以下时，可以实现强化脱氮。特别是碳氮质量平衡分析进一步表明了新开发的HPB工艺在节省碳源脱氮方面的优势。所有的结果都被认为是一种高效处理低浓度城市污水的有前景的策略。