A promising destiny for Feammox: From biogeochemical ammonium oxidation to wastewater treatment
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Updated: Nov 3, 2025

Electrochemically and Bioelectrochemically Induced Ammonium Recovery
Published on: January 22, 2015
Jiaxuan Zhu1, Tian Li1, Chengmei Liao1
1MOE Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, No. 38 Tongyan Road, Jinnan District, Tianjin 300350, China.
Abstract:
Ammonium is one of the most common forms of nitrogen that exists in wastewater, and it can cause severe pollution when it is discharged without treatment. New technologies must be developed to effectively remove ammonium because conventional nitrification-denitrification methods are limited by the lack of organic carbon. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation coupled to Fe(III) reduction is known as Feammox, and is a recently discovered nitrogen cycling process. Feammox can proceed under autotrophic or anaerobic conditions and effectively transforms ammonium to stable, innocuous dinitrogen gas, using the ferric iron as an electron acceptor. This method is cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and conducive to joint application with other nitrogen removal reactions in low-C/N municipal wastewater treatments. This review provides a comprehensive survey of Feammox mechanistic investigations and presents studies regarding the functional microorganism colonies. The potential for Feammox to be applied for the removal of nitrogen from various polluted water sources and the combination of the Feammox process with other frontier environmental technologies are also discussed. In addition, future perspectives for removing ammonium using Feammox are presented.
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