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Published on: September 6, 2024
Integration of methane oxidation with anammox for enhancing nitrogen removal: Performance, mechanisms, and machine
Xueqin Lu1, Mengting Xia2, Yingxiang Tang2
1School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, PR China; Chongqing Institute of East China Normal University, Chongqing, 401120, PR China; Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Biotransformation of Organic Solid Waste, Shanghai, 200241, PR China.
Abstract:
Anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox) is a promising process for nitrogen removal, yet nitrate accumulation limits its application. This study developed a methane (CH4)-driven system integrating denitrification and anammox for efficient nitrogen removal with CH4 recycling. In a long-term operation of a CH4-fed up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASB), a total nitrogen removal efficiency of 93 % was achieved under the operational condition of a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 6 h and an influent nitrogen concentration of 450 mg N L-1. CH4 enhanced nitrogen removal by irritating the growth of denitrifying bacteria (the abundance of Pseudomonas increased to 8 %) without requiring anaerobic methanotrophic (ANME) archaea or denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation (DAMO) bacteria. Futhermore, the abundance of anaerobic oxidizing bacteria (AnAOB) rose from 0.5 % to 18.6 %. Random Forest modeling identified AnAOB activity, effluent NH4+ and NO3- as key factors governing removal efficiency. This study demonstrates that CH4-driven denitrification coupled with anammox significantly enhances wastewater nitrogen removal efficiency, providing a novel strategy for CH4 utilization in bioremediation.
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