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Updated: Jan 24, 2026

A Novel Bioreactor for High Density Cultivation of Diverse Microbial Communities
Published on: December 25, 2015
[Effect of Different Temperatures on the Performance of Autotrophic Nitrogen Removal and Microbial Community from
Fang-Yu Huang1,2, Liang-Wei Deng1,2, Hong-Nan Yang1,2
1Biogas Institute of Ministry of Agriculture, Chengdu 610041, China.
Abstract:
Four laboratory-scale autotrophic nitrogen removal bioreactors were implemented to investigate performance differences and microbial mechanisms under different temperatures (30, 25, 20, and 15℃). The results showed that the reactor performance under 30℃ was higher than others. When the temperature decreased from 30℃ to 25℃, total nitrogen removal efficiency reduced from 73% to 66%, and total nitrogen removal rate from 2.29 kg·(m3·d)-1 to 1.72 kg·(m3·d)-1. The morphology and particle size of the sludge did not change significantly (SMD:from 80.85 μm to 79.95 μm). When the temperature was 20℃, the total nitrogen removal efficiency reduced to 42%, the total nitrogen removal rate reduced to 1.18 kg·(m3·d)-1, and the sludge disintegration phenomenon occurred with particle size reduction (SMD:63.21 μm). When the temperature was 15℃, the total nitrogen removal efficiency reduced to 37%, and the total nitrogen removal rate got as low as 1.00 kg·(m3·d)-1. In addition to that, the reactor operation was difficult. The analysis of microbial community structure showed that the influence of temperature on anaerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria is greater than that on ammonia oxidizing bacteria. This sensitivity to temperature of the anaerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria was the main reason for the decreased performance under low temperature conditions.
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