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Updated: Oct 16, 2025

A Novel Bioreactor for High Density Cultivation of Diverse Microbial Communities
Published on: December 25, 2015
Mainstream double-anammox driven by nitritation and denitratation using a one-stage step-feed bioreactor with real
Wenyu Li1, Jianwei Li1, Ying Liu2
1National Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Engineering Research Center of Beijing, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, PR China.
Abstract:
A novel double-anammox process for advanced mainstream nitrogen removal was established using step-feed sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system with integration of suspend sludge and biofilms. Following optimization of influent distribution ratio, the effluent total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) was < 10.2 mg N/L, with influent TIN of 43.4 mg N/L, and anammox contributed 71.4% to TIN removal. Biological processes and batch tests revealed that gradient C/N reduction promoted denitratation/anammox in anoxic stage, and simultaneous nitritation and anammox were achieved in oxic stage. Specially, anammox maintained on biofilms with abundance over 109 copies/ (g dry sludge). High-throughput sequencing revealed that Thauera and Nitrosomonas were enriched in flocs. Furthermore, metagenomic sequencing confirmed that Thauera owns narG and napA (NO3-→NO2-) and Nitrosomonas owns amoA (NH4+→NO2-), support stable NO2- supply for double-anammox. This mainstream anammox-dominant process could potentially be used for stable nitrogen removal in municipal wastewater treatment plants.
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