Composition of extracellular polymeric substances in a partial nitrification reactor treating high ammonia wastewater
Dong Wei1, Bin Du1, Jian Zhang2
1Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, PR China; School of Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, PR China.
Abstract:
The objective of this study was to characterize the composition of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) during the achievement of partial nitrification and subsequent nitrous oxide (N2O) emission treating high ammonia wastewater. After operation of 120days, the reactor achieved high ammonia removal efficiency and stable nitrite accumulation. The average size of sludge flocs in the reactor increased from 102.6 to 258.5μm. The main compositions of EPS, including protein (PN) and polysaccharide (PS), increased to 65.46±3.27 and 21.63±1.08mg/g VSS, respectively. Results of three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix spectroscopy implied that EPS transferred to tryptophan PN-like and humic acid-like substrates. N2O emission accounts for 11.67% of removed nitrogen during the steady state of partial nitrification reactor. The obtained results could contribute a better understanding the achievement of partial nitrification through the composition changes of EPS, and provide more information to determine nitrogen removal by considering N2O emission.
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