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Nitrogen removal from ammonium- and sulfate-rich wastewater in an upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactor: performance and microbial community structure

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Abstract

Autotrophic ammonium removal by sulfate-dependent anaerobic ammonium oxidation (S-Anammox) process was studied in an upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactor inoculated with Anammox sludge. Over an operation period of 371 days, the reactor with a hydraulic retention time of 16 h was fed with influent in which NH4+ concentration was fixed at 70 mg N L−1, and the molar ratio of NO2−:NO3−:SO42− was 1:0.2:0.2, 0.5:0.1:0.3 and 0:0:0.5 in stages I, II and III, respectively. As the NO2− in influent was entirely replaced by SO42−, the NH4+ removal rate was 31.02 mg N L−1 d−1, and the conversion rate of SO42− was 8.18 mg S L−1 d−1. On grounds of the high NH4+:SO42− removal ratio (8.67:1), the S2− accumulation and pH drop in effluent, as well as the analysis results of microbial community structure, the S-Anammox process was speculated to play a dominant role in stage III. The NH4+ over-transformation was presumably as a consequence of the cyclic regeneration of SO42−. Concerning the microbial characteristics in the system, the Anammox bacteria (Candidatus Brocadia), sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) (Desulfatiglans and Desulfurivibrio) and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) (Thiobacillus) in biomass was enriched in the case of without addition of NO2− in influent. Sulfate reduction driven ammonium anaerobic oxidation was probably attributed to the coordinated metabolism of nitrogen- and sulfur-utilizing bacteria consortium, in which Anammox bacteria dominates the nitrogen removal, and the SRB and SOB participates in the sulfur cycle as well as accepts required electrons from Anammox bacteria through a direct inter-species electron transfer (DIET) pathway.

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Data availability

All data used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request (YJ and JZ).

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51368011; 61864001), Guangxi Science and Technology Major Project (No. Gui Ke AA17204047), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (No. 2016GXNSFAA380046; 2017GXNSFAA198256), and Middle-aged and Young Teachers’ Basic Ability Promotion Project of Guangxi (No. 2019KY0242).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life and Environmental Science, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, 541004, China

    Yongli Qin, Qiaoyan Wei, Yuanyuan Zhang, Yongrong Jiang & Junjian Zheng

  2. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China

    Haixiang Li

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  1. Yongli Qin
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  2. Qiaoyan Wei
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  3. Yuanyuan Zhang
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Contributions

Conceptualization: YJ and YQ; methodology: YQ and QW; formal analysis and investigation: YZ and HL; writing—original draft preparation: YQ and YZ; writing—review and editing: JZ; funding acquisition: YJ; resources: HL; supervision: JZ.

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Correspondence to Yongrong Jiang or Junjian Zheng.

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Qin, Y., Wei, Q., Zhang, Y. et al. Nitrogen removal from ammonium- and sulfate-rich wastewater in an upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactor: performance and microbial community structure. Ecotoxicology 30, 1719–1730 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-020-02333-x

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