Nitrogen removal with the anaerobic ammonium oxidation process
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Updated: May 12, 2026

Measurement of the Potential Rates of Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction to Ammonium Based on 14NH4+/15NH4+ Analyses via Sequential Conversion to N2O
Published on: October 7, 2020
Ziye Hu1, Tommaso Lotti, Mark van Loosdrecht
1Department of Microbiology, IWWR, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) bacteria convert ammonium to N2 with nitrite as the terminal electron acceptor in the absence of O2. Nitritation-anammox bioreactors provide a cost-effective and environment-friendly alternative to conventional nitrification/denitrification nitrogen removal systems. Currently, this process is only applied for ammonium removal from wastewater with high ammonium load and temperature. Nevertheless, recent results obtained with laboratory-scale bioreactors suggest new possible routes of application of the Nitritation-anammox technology including (1) municipal wastewater treatment, removal of (2) methane in combination with nitrite-reducing methane-oxidizing bacteria, (3) nitrate coupled to organic acid oxidation and (4) nitrogen oxides. The current review summarizes the state-of-the-art of the application of Nitritation-anammox systems and discusses the possibilities of utilizing these recent results for wastewater treatment.
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