One of the key challenges for the application of an osmotic membrane bioreactor (OMBR) is low nitrogen removal efficiency. Herein, a novel integrated configuration by combining a single-chamber air-cathode bioelectrochemical system (BES) with an OMBR was proposed to facilitate nitrogen removal due to simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in the bioreactor, and carbon source trade-off between nitrogen removal and current generation were also investigated under different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) and draw solute (DS) concentrations. By applying sodium acetate as DS, the supplementary carbon source from reverse-fluxed solute promoted nitrogen removal (i.e., total nitrogen removal efficiency of 93.08 ± 0.93%) and current generation (i.e., current density of 110.67 ± 4.99 A/m³). Sequencing analyses revealed that nitrifying bacteria (62.7%), denitrifying bacteria (33.82%), and electrochemically-active bacteria (EAB, 4.31%) were abundant in the bioreactor. Both a long HRT or a high DS concentration improved nitrogen removal, but promoted the carbon source competition among denitrifying bacteria, EAB, and other heterotrophic bacteria. Cost balance of 0.32–1.13 $USD/kgCOD or 3.60–9.03 $USD/kgN was obtained, and a lower DS concentration was more cost-saving for the system operation. Those results have demonstrated that the proposed system could be an alternative approach for simultaneous enhancement of nitrogen removal and current generation.

渗透膜生物反应器 (OMBR) 应用的主要挑战之一是脱氮效率低。在此，提出了一种通过将单室空气阴极生物电化学系统 (BES) 与 OMBR 相结合的新型集成配置，以促进生物反应器中同时硝化和反硝化作用的脱氮，以及脱氮和电流之间的碳源权衡。还研究了不同水力停留时间 (HRT) 和吸引溶质 (DS) 浓度下的生成。通过应用醋酸钠作为 DS，来自反熔溶质的补充碳源促进了脱氮（即总脱氮效率为 93.08 ± 0.93%）和产生电流（即电流密度为 110.67 ± 4.99 A/m ³）。测序分析表明，生物反应器中大量存在硝化细菌（62.7%）、反硝化细菌（33.82%）和电化学活性细菌（EAB，4.31%）。长 HRT 或高 DS 浓度都可以提高脱氮率，但会促进反硝化细菌、EAB 和其他异养细菌之间的碳源竞争。获得了 0.32-1.13 美元/kgCOD 或 3.60-9.03 美元/kgN 的成本平衡，较低的 DS 浓度更能节省系统运行的成本。这些结果表明，所提出的系统可以成为同时增强脱氮和电流产生的替代方法。