High rate nitrogen removal by ANAMMOX internal circulation reactor (IC) for old landfill leachate treatment

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of a high rate nitrogen removal lab-scale ANAMMOX reactor, namely Internal Circulation (IC) reactor, for old landfill leachate treatment. The reactor was operated with pre-treated leachate from a pilot Partial Nitritation Reactor (PNR) using a high nitrogen loading rate ranging from 2 to 10kgNm^-3d^-1. High rate removal of nitrogen (9.52±1.11kgNm^-3d^-1) was observed at an influent nitrogen concentration of 1500mgNL^-1. The specific ANAMMOX activity was found to be 0.598±0.026gN₂-NgVSS^-1d^-1. Analysis of ANAMMOX granules suggested that 0.5-1.0mm size granular sludge was the dominant group. The results of DNA analysis revealed that Candidatus Kueneniastuttgartiensis was the dominant species (37.45%) in the IC reactor, whereas other species like uncultured Bacteroidetes bacterium only constituted 5.37% in the system, but they were still responsible for removing recalcitrant organic matter.