Achieving simultaneous nitrogen and antibiotic removal in one-stage partial nitritation-Anammox (PN/A) process
Huayu Li1, Hong Yao2, Tao Liu3
1Advanced Water Management Centre, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; Beijing International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Water Pollution Control Techniques for Antibiotics and Resistance Genes, Beijing Key Laboratory of Aqueous Typical Pollutants Control and Water Quality Safeguard, Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, PR China.
Abstract:
Partial nitritation-Anammox (PN/A) process has been recognized as a sustainable process for biological nitrogen removal. Although various antibiotics have been ubiquitously detected in influent of wastewater treatment plants, little is known whether functional microorganisms in the PN/A process are capable of biodegrading antibiotics. This study aimed to investigate simultaneous nitrogen and antibiotic removal in a lab-scale one-stage PN/A system treating synthetic wastewater containing a widely-used antibiotic, sulfadiazine (SDZ). Results showed that maximum total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency of 86.1% and SDZ removal efficiency of 95.1% could be achieved when treating 5 mg/L SDZ under DO conditions of 0.5-0.6 mg/L. Compared to anammox bacteria, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) made a major contribution to SDZ degradation through their cometabolic pathway. A strong correlation between amoA gene and SDZ removal efficiency was found (p < 0.01). In addition, the degradation products of SDZ did not exhibit any inhibitory effects on Escherichia coli. The findings suggest that it is promising to apply the PN/A process to simultaneously remove antibiotics and nitrogen from contaminated wastewater.
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