Achieving Stable Nitritation for Mainstream Deammonification by Combining Free Nitrous Acid-Based Sludge Treatment and Oxygen Limitation

Rapid start-up of mainstream partial denitrification /anammox and enhanced nitrogen removal through inoculation of precultured biofilm for treating low-strength municipal sewage

This study investigated the rapid start-up of mainstream partial denitrification coupled with anammox (PD/A) and nitrogen removal performance by inoculating precultured PD/A biofilm. The results showed mainstream PD/A in the anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic (A2O) process was rapidly established within 30 days. Nitrogen removal efficiency (NRE) improved by 23.8 % contrasted to the traditional A2O process. The mass balance showed that anammox contribution to total nitrogen (TN) removal were maintained at 37.9 %∼55.7 %, and reducing hydraulic retention time (HRT) strengthened simultaneously denitrification and anammox activity. The microbial community showed that the dominant bacteria such as denitrifying bacteria (DNBs) and glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs) both in biofilm and flocculent sludge (floc), integrating with anammox bacteria (AnAOB) in biofilm might lead to enhanced nitrogen removal. Overall, this study offered a fast start-up strategy of mainstream PD/A with enhanced nitrogen removal, which are valuable for upgradation and renovation of existed municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

Strategy to mitigate substrate inhibition in wastewater treatment systems

Global urbanization requires more stable and sustainable wastewater treatment to reduce the burden on the water environment. To address the problem of substrate inhibition of microorganisms during wastewater treatment, which leads to unstable wastewater discharge, this study proposes an approach to enhance the tolerance of bacterial community by artificially setting up a non-lethal high substrate environment. And the feasibility of this approach was explored by taking the inhibition of anammox process by nitrite as an example. It was shown that the non-lethal high substrate environment could enhance the nitrite tolerance of anammox bacterial community, as the specific anammox activity increasing up to 24.71 times at high nitrite concentrations. Moreover, the system composed of anammox bacterial community with high nitrite tolerance also showed greater resistance (two-fold) in response to nitrite shock. The antifragility of the system was enhanced without affecting the operation of the main reactor, and the non-lethal high nitrite environment changed the dominant anammox genera to Candidatus Jettenia. This approach to enhance tolerance of bacterial community in a non-lethal high substrate environment not only allows the anammox system to operate stably, but also promises to be a potential strategy for achieving stable biological wastewater treatment processes to comply with standards.

Enhanced anammox performance under lower nitrite accumulation in modified partial nitritation-anammox (PN/A) process

Higher nitrite accumulation, which is challenging to achieve reliably, is always sought to obtain better nitrogen removal performance in traditional partial nitritation-anammox (PN/A) process. This study developed a modified PN/A process by introducing nitrite-oxidizing bacteria and endogenous metabolism. Advanced nitrogen removal performance of 95.5 % was achieved at a low C/N ratio of 2.7 under nitrite accumulation ratio (NAR) fluctuations. Higher nitrate accumulation at lower NAR (70 ∼ 40 %) resulted in superior anammox contribution (60 ∼ 75 %) and nitrogen removal performance (93 ∼ 98 %). This was attributed to the higher nitrogen removal efficiency of the post-anoxic endogenous partial denitrification coupling anammox process, although the PN/A process occurring first possessed a faster anammox rate of 2.0 mg NH4+-N /(g VSS⋅h). The introduction of nitrate allowed more nitrite flow to anammox, promoting a high enrichment of anammox bacteria (Ca. Brocadia, 0.3 % to 2.8 %). This study provides new insights into the practical application of the PN/A process.

Nitrite Oxidation in Wastewater Treatment: Microbial Adaptation and Suppression Challenges

Microbial nitrite oxidation is the primary pathway that generates nitrate in wastewater treatment systems and can be performed by a variety of microbes: namely, nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Since NOB were first isolated 130 years ago, the understanding of the phylogenetical and physiological diversities of NOB has been gradually deepened. In recent endeavors of advanced biological nitrogen removal, NOB have been more considered as a troublesome disruptor, and strategies on NOB suppression often fail in practice after long-term operation due to the growth of specific NOB that are able to adapt to even harsh conditions. In line with a review of the history of currently known NOB genera, a phylogenetic tree is constructed to exhibit a wide range of NOB in different phyla. In addition, the growth behavior and metabolic performance of different NOB strains are summarized. These specific features of various NOB (e.g., high oxygen affinity of Nitrospira, tolerance to chemical inhibitors of Nitrobacter and Candidatus Nitrotoga, and preference to high temperature of Nitrolancea) highlight the differentiation of the NOB ecological niche in biological nitrogen processes and potentially support their adaptation to different suppression strategies (e.g., low dissolved oxygen, chemical treatment, and high temperature). This review implicates the acquired physiological characteristics of NOB to their emergence from a genomic and ecological perspective and emphasizes the importance of understanding physiological characterization and genomic information in future wastewater treatment studies.

Improving nutrients removal of Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic process via inhibiting partial anaerobic mixture with nitrite in side-stream tanks: role of nitric oxide

A side-stream tank which was in parallel with the anoxic tank was used to improve the performance of the Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic process. The partial mixtures from the anaerobic tank were injected into the side-stream tank with the initial nitrite nitrogen (NO₂^--N) concentrations of 10 mg/L and 20 mg/L. When the initial NO₂^--N concentration in the tank was 20 mg/L, total nitrogen and total phosphorus removal efficiencies of the A²/O process increased from 72% and 48% to 90% and 89%, respectively. 2.23 mg/L of nitric oxide (NO) were observed in the side-stream tank. The abundance of Nitrosomonas sp. and Nitrospira sp. were varied from 0.98% and 6.13% to 2.04% and 1.13%, respectively. The abundances of Pseudomonas sp. and Acinetobacter sp. were increased from 0.81% and 0.74% to 6.69% and 5.48%, respectively. NO plays an important role for improving the nutrients removal of the A²/O process in the side-stream nitrite-enhanced strategy.

One-year stable pilot-scale operation demonstrates high flexibility of mainstream anammox application

Mainstream nitrogen removal via anammox is widely recognized as a promising wastewater treatment process. However, its application is challenging at large scale due to unstable suppression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). In this study, a pilot-scale mainstream anammox process was implemented in an Integrated Fixed-film Activated Sludge (IFAS) configuration. Stable operation with robust NOB suppression was maintained for over one year. This was achieved through integration of three key control strategies: i) low dissolved oxygen (DO = 0.4 ± 0.2 mg O₂/L), ii) regular free nitrous acid (FNA)-based sludge treatment, and iii) residual ammonium concentration control (NH₄ ⁺ with a setpoint of ∼8 mg N/L). Activity tests and FISH demonstrated that NOB barely survived in sludge flocs and were inhibited in biofilms. Despite receiving organic-deficient wastewater from a pilot-scale High-Rate Activated Sludge (HRAS) system as the feed, the system maintained a stable effluent total nitrogen concentration mostly below 10 mg N/L, which was attributed to the successful retention of anammox bacteria. This study successfully demonstrated large-scale long-term mainstream anammox application and generated new practical knowledge for NOB control and anammox retention.

Sustainable nitrogen removal in anammox-mediated systems: Microbial metabolic pathways, operational conditions and mathematical modelling

Anammox-mediated systems have attracted considerable attention as alternative cost-effective technologies for sustainable nitrogen (N) removal from wastewater. This review comprehensively highlights the importance of understanding microbial metabolism in anammox-mediated systems under crucial operation parameters, indicating the potentially wide applications for the sustainable treatment of N-containing wastewater. The partial nitrification-anammox (PN-A), simultaneous PN-A and denitrification (SNAD) processes have demonstrated sustainable N removal from sidestream wastewater. The partial denitrification-anammox (PD-A) and denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation-anammox (DAMO-A) processes have advanced sustainable N removal efficiency in mainstream wastewater treatment. Moreover, N2O production/emission hotspots are extensively discussed in anammox-based processes and are related to the dominant ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and denitrifying heterotrophs. In contrast, N2O is not produced in the metabolism pathways of AnAOB and DAMO-archaea; Moreover, the actual contribution of N2O production by dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) and DAMO-bacteria in their species remains uncertain. Thus, PD-A and DAMO-A processes would achieve reduction in greenhouse gas production, as well as energy consumption for the reliability of N removal efficiencies. In addition to reaction mechanisms, this review covers the mathematical models for simultaneous anammox, partial nitrification and/or denitrification (i.e., PN-A, PD-A, and SNAD). Promising NO3- reduction technologies by endogenous PD, sulfur-driven autotrophic denitrification, and DNRA by anammox are also discussed. In summary, this review provides a better understanding of sustainable N removal in anammox-mediated systems, thereby encouraging future investigation and exploration of the sustainable N bio-treatment from wastewater.

A review of enhanced municipal wastewater treatment through energy savings and carbon recovery to reduce discharge and CO2 footprint

Municipal wastewater treatment that mainly performed by conventional activated sludge (CAS) process faces the challenge of intensive aeration-associated energy consumption for oxidation of organics and ammonium, contributing to significant directly/indirectly greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy use, which hinders the achievement of carbon neutral, the top priority mission in the coming decades to cope with the global climate change. Therefore, this article aimed to offer a comprehensive analysis of recently developed biological treatment processes with the focus on reducing discharge and CO2 footprint. The biotechnologies including "Zero Carbon", "Low Carbon", "Carbon Capture and Utilization" are discussed, it suggested that, by integrating these processes with energy-saving and carbon recovery, the challenges faced in current wastewater treatment plants can be overcome, and a carbon-neutral even be possible. Future research should investigate the integration of these methods and improve anammox contribution as well as minimize organics lost under different scales.

Interrogating nitritation at a molecular level: Understanding the potential influence of Nitrobacter spp

Water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) increasingly must maximize nitrogen and phosphorus removal, but concurrently face challenges to reduce their energy usage and environmental footprint. In particular, biological nutrient removal (BNR), which targets removal of phosphorus and nitrogen, exhibits a large energy demand. However, a BNR process achieving partial oxidation of NH₃ to NO₂ (nitritation) could reduce energy demands, with secondary environmental emission benefits. Research was conducted on bench-scale systems performing nitritation and nitrification to better understand how mixed microbial consortia, cultured on real wastewater, can sustain nitritation. BNR configurations achieved nitrite accumulation ratios of 64-82%, with excellent overall effluent quality. Applying phylogenetic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic methods, coupled with process monitoring, results indicate that partial nitritation may be induced through a combination of: (1) Employing ammonia-based aeration control, with an ammonia setpoint of 2, 3 mgN/L; (2) Maintaining an aerobic period DO of 1.0-2.0 mg/L; and (3) Operating BNR post-anoxically, integrated within enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR). Significant nitritation was achieved despite the presence Nitrobacter spp., but nitrite oxidoreductase must be functionally impaired or structurally incomplete. Overall, this research demonstrated the value of interrogating a mixed microbial consortia at a macro and molecular level to explore unique metabolic responses such as nitritation.

Achieving robust mainstream nitrite shunt at pilot-scale with integrated sidestream sludge treatment and step-feed

As a promising energy- and carbon efficient process for nitrogen removal from wastewater, mainstream nitrite shunt has been extensively researched. However, beyond the laboratory it is challenging to maintain stable performance by suppressing nitrite-oxidising bacteria (NOB). In this study, a pilot-scale reactor system receiving real sewage was operated in two stages for >850 days to evaluate two novel NOB suppression strategies for achieving nitrite shunt: i) sidestream sludge treatment based on alternating free nitrous acid (FNA) and free ammonia (FA) and ii) sidestream FNA/FA sludge treatment integrated with in-situ NOB suppression via step-feed. The results showed that, with sidestream sludge treatment alone, NOB developed resistance relatively quickly to the treatment, leading to unstable nitrite shunt. In contrast, robust nitrite shunt was achieved and stably maintained for more than a year when sidestream sludge treatment was integrated with a step-feed strategy. Kinetic analyses suggested that sludge treatment and step-feed worked in synergy, leading to stable NOB suppression. The integrated strategy demonstrated in this study removes a key barrier to the implementation of stable mainstream nitrite shunt.

Microbial response on the first full-scale DEMON® biomass transfer for mainstream deammonification

Sidestream partial nitritation and deammonification (pN/A) of high-strength ammonia wastewater is a well-established technology. Its expansion to the mainstream is, however mainly impeded by poor retention of anaerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AnAOB), insufficient repression of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and difficult control of soluble chemical oxygen demand and nitrite levels. At the municipal wastewater treatment plant in Strass (Austria) the microbial consortium was exhaustively monitored at full-scale over one and a half year with regular transfer of sidestream DEMON® biomass and further retention and enrichment of granular anammox biomass via hydrocyclone operation. Routine process parameters were surveyed and the response and evolution of the microbiota was followed by molecular tools, ex-situ activity tests and further, AnAOB quantification through particle tracking and heme measurement. After eight months of operation, the first anaerobic, simultaneous depletion of ammonia and nitrite was observed ex-situ, together with a direction to higher nitrite generation (68% of total NO_x-N) as compared to nitrate under aerobic conditions. Our dissolved oxygen (DO) scheme allowed for transient anoxic conditions and had a strong influence on nitrite levels and the NOB community, where Nitrobacter eventually dominated Nitrospira. The establishment of a minor but stable AnAOB biomass was accompanied by the rise of Chloroflexi and distinct emergence of Chlorobi, a trend not seen in the sidestream system. Interestingly, the most pronounced switch in the microbial community and noticeable NOB repression occurred during unfavorable conditions, i.e. the cold winter season and high organic load. Further abatement of NOB was achieved through bioaugmentation of aerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AerAOB) from the sidestream-DEMON® tank. Performance of the sidestream pN/A was not impaired by this operational scheme and the average volumetric nitrogen removal rate of the mainstream even doubled in the second half of the monitoring campaign. We conclude that a combination of both, regular sidestream-DEMON® biomass transfer and granular SRT increase via hydrocyclone operation was crucial for AnAOB establishment within the mainstream.

A 20-Year Journey of Partial Nitritation and Anammox (PN/A): from Sidestream toward Mainstream

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) was discovered as a new microbial reaction in the late 1990s, which led to the development of an innovative energy- and carbon-efficient technology─partial nitritation and anammox (PN/A)─for nitrogen removal. PN/A was first applied to remove the nitrogen from high-strength wastewaters, e.g., anaerobic digestion liquor (i.e., sidestream), and further expanded to the main line of wastewater treatment plants (i.e., mainstream). While sidestream PN/A has been well-established with extensive full-scale installations worldwide, practical application of PN/A in mainstream treatment has been proven extremely challenging to date. A key challenge is achieving stable suppression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). This study examines the progress of NOB suppression in both sidestream- and mainstream PN/A over the past two decades. The successful NOB suppression in sidestream PN/A was reviewed, and these successes were evaluated in terms of their transferability into mainstream PN/A. Drawing on the learning over the past decades, we anticipate that a hybrid process, comprised of biofilm and floccular sludge, bears great potential to achieve efficient mainstream PN/A, while a combination of strategies is entailed for stable NOB suppression. Furthermore, the recent discovery of novel nitrifiers would trigger new opportunities and new challenges for mainstream PN/A.

Wastewater Primary Treatment Using Forward Osmosis Introduces Inhibition to Achieve Stable Mainstream Partial Nitrification

Achieving stable long-term mainstream nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) suppression is the bottleneck for the novel partial nitrification (PN) process toward energy- and carbon-efficient wastewater treatment. However, long-term PN stability remains a challenge due to NOB adaptation. This study proposed and demonstrated a novel strategy for achieving NOB suppression by the primary treatment of mainstream wastewater with a forward osmosis (FO) membrane process, which facilitated two external NOB inhibition factors (salinity and free nitrous acid, FNA). To evaluate the proposed strategy, a lab-scale sequencing batch reactor was operated for 200 days. A stable PN operation was achieved with a nitrite accumulation ratio of 97.7 ± 2.8%. NOB were suppressed under the combined inhibition effect of NaCl (7.9 ± 0.2 g/L, as introduced by the FO direct filtration) and FNA (0.11 ± 0.02 mg of HNO₂-N/L, formed as a result of the increased NH₄⁺-N concentration after the FO process). The two inhibition factors worked in synergy to achieve a more stable PN operation. The microbial analysis showed that the elevated salinity and accumulation of FNA reshaped the microbial community and selectively eliminated NOB. Finally, an economic and feasibility analysis was conducted, which suggests that the integration of an FO unit into PN/A is a feasible and economically viable wastewater treatment process.

Mainstream short-cut N removal modelling: current status and perspectives

This work gives an overview of the state-of-the-art in modelling of short-cut processes for nitrogen removal in mainstream wastewater treatment and presents future perspectives for directing research efforts in line with the needs of practice. The modelling status for deammonification (i.e., anammox-based) and nitrite-shunt processes is presented with its challenges and limitations. The importance of mathematical models for considering N₂O emissions in the design and operation of short-cut nitrogen removal processes is considered as well. Modelling goals and potential benefits are presented and the needs for new and more advanced approaches are identified. Overall, this contribution presents how existing and future mathematical models can accelerate successful full-scale mainstream short-cut nitrogen removal applications.

Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and dibutyl phthalate have a negative competitive effect on the nitrification of black soil

Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) are the most widely used plasticizers for agricultural mulching films and one of the most common organic pollutants in black soil. However, little is known about the effect of these two contaminants on nitrification in black soil. This study investigated the changes of 20 mg/kg DEHP and DBP on the diversity of nitrification microbial communities, the abundance of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) related genes, and the activities of key enzymes involved in nitrification. During ammonia oxidation, DEHP and DBP had uncompetitive inhibition of urease, reducing the copy number of amoA gene, and microorganisms (Azoarcus, Streptomyces and Caulobacter) would use inorganic nitrogen as a nitrogen source for physiological growth. During nitrite oxidation, the copy number of nxrA gene also reduced, and the relative abundance of chemoautotrophic nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter) decreased. Moreover, the path analysis results showed that DEHP and DBP mainly directly or indirectly affect AOB and NOB through three ways. These results help better understand the ecotoxicological effects of DEHP and DBP on AOB and NOB in black soil.

Effects of incineration leachate on anaerobic digestion of excess sludge and the related mechanisms

Anaerobic digestion (AD) refers to a reliable channel for energy recovery from organics. However, the digestion efficiency of excess sludge (ES) has been unsatisfactory since there are defects relating to ES hydrolysis. Therefore, this study explored a method to improve the anaerobic digestion of ES, which could simultaneously treat ES and incineration leachate, and revealed the potential mechanism of AD process. As the investigation was conducted on the influences exerted by incineration leachate on the four phases (i.e., solubilization, methanogenesis, acidogenesis and hydrolysis) of ES anaerobic digestion, and the effect mechanism. According to obtained results, adding appropriate amounts of incineration leachate could facilitate the steps of solubilization, hydrolysis, acidogenesis and methanogenesis of ES. The hydrolysis and acidogenesis efficiency in the leachate added digesters were 5.7%-17.1% and 13%-45% higher than that of the control digester, respectively. Meanwhile, cumulative methane yields (CMY) were 27-86 mL/gVS higher than that in the control digester. Besides, the sludge floc stability was reduced by the leachate with the decrease in the median particle size (MPS) and apparent activation energy (AAE) of the sludge. According to microbial community and diversity analysis, adding incineration leachate increased the relative abundance of hydrolytic-acidification bacteria in the digesters and the relative abundance of Methanosaeta and Methanosarcina. Thus, the digestive performance exhibited by the leachate participated system was improved. These mentioned findings may provide an approach for treating ES and incineration leachate in practical engineering.

Heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification process: Promising but a long way to go in the wastewater treatment

The traditional biological nitrogen removal (BNR) follows the conventional scheme of sequential nitrification and denitrification. In recent years, novel processes such as anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox), complete oxidation of ammonia to nitrate in one organism (comammox), heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification (HN-AD), and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) are gaining tremendous attention after the discovery of metabolically versatile bacteria. Among them, HN-AD offers several advantages because individual bacteria could achieve one-stage nitrogen removal under aerobic conditions in the presence of organic carbon. In this review, besides classical BNR processes, we summarized the existing literature on HN-AD bacteria which have been isolated from diverse habitats. A particular focus was given on the diversity and physiology of HN-AD bacteria, influences of physiological and biochemical factors on their growth, nitrogen removal performances, as well as limitations and strategies in unraveling HN-AD metabolic pathways. We also presented case studies of HN-AD application in wastewater treatment facilities, pointed out forthcoming challenges of HN-AD in these systems, and presented modulation strategies for HN-AD application in engineering. This review may help improve the existing design of wastewater treatment plants by harnessing HN-AD bacteria for effective nitrogen removal.

Achieving stable and long-term partial nitrification of domestic wastewater by side-stream sludge treatment using a novel nitrite oxidation inhibitor chloroxylenol

Using inhibitors to selectively suppress the activity of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) was an emerging way to rapidly achieve partial nitrification (PN). This study explored the feasibility of inactivating NOB by a novel inhibitor chloroxylenol (PCMX) in real domestic wastewater. Different frequencies (periodic strategy and concentrative time strategy) of PCMX side-stream sludge treatment were used to achieve and maintain PN during 250 days. PN was realized by PCMX treatment once a day about 20 days, due to the inhibition of Nitrospira. PN was completely destroyed after 212 days by periodic strategy, caused by the increase of Candidatus Nitrotoga. PN maintained without PCMX in following 201 days by concentrative time strategy. The risks of PCMX were assessed and almost no PCMX was detected in the effluent of mainstream sequencing batch reactors. These results meant PN realized by PCMX side-stream sludge treatment was feasible and concentrative time strategy was a better operating strategy.

Stable nitritation of mature landfill leachate via in-situ selective inhibition by free nitrous acid

In-situ free nitrous acid (FNA) and free ammonia (FA) treatments are more feasible than side-stream methods to achieve nitritation. To assess the optimum conditions and long-term performance of in-situ inhibition by FNA, batch tests and a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating mature landfill leachate were conducted and established. As a result, the selective inhibition characteristic by FNA was more conspicuous than FA, and FNA (0.175 mg N/L, 6 h) treatment are more biocidal to nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Moreover, ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were more sensitive to the FA environment but its activity recovered preferentially compared to NOB. The SBR achieved a sustained nitrite accumulation rate above 90% for 200 days, with a significant decrease of NOB activity and microbial abundance according to qPCR and 16S rRNA gene sequencing results. In-situ selective inhibition by FNA (0.175 mg N/L, 6 h) has been proved to be effective to maintain stable nitritation.

Centralized iron-dosing into returned sludge brings multifaceted benefits to wastewater management

Iron salts (i.e. FeCl₃) are the most used chemicals in the urban wastewater system. Iron is commonly dosed into sewage or the mainstream system, which provides multiple benefits such as enhanced phosphorus removal and improved sludge settleability/dewaterability. This study reported and demonstrated a new approach that dosed FeCl₃ into returned sludge in order to bring two more benefits to wastewater management: short-cut nitrogen removal via the nitrite pathway and less biomass production. This approach is achieved based on our findings that with similar amount of FeCl₃, centralized iron dosing into a sidestream sludge unit generated iron concentration two orders of magnitude higher than the common mainstream dosing (e.g. 10-40 mg Fe/L-wastewater), leading to sludge acidification (pH = 2.1) with Fe (III) hydrolysis. Together with accumulated nitrite in the supernatant of the sludge, ppm-level of free nitrous acid was generated and thus enabled sludge disintegration, cell lysis, and selective elimination of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Long-term effects on nitrifying bacteria and overall reactor performance were evaluated using two laboratory reactor experiments for over one year. The experimental reactor showed stable nitrite accumulation with an average NO₂^-/(NO₂^- + NO₃^-) ratio above 80% and ∼30% observed biomass yield reduction compared to those in control reactors. In addition, the centralized sludge dosing strategy still provided benefits such as improved settleability and dewaterability of sludge and enhanced phosphorus removal.

Relevance of Candidatus Nitrotoga for nitrite oxidation in technical nitrogen removal systems

Abstract

Many biotechnological applications deal with nitrification, one of the main steps of the global nitrogen cycle. The biological oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and further to nitrate is critical to avoid environmental damage and its functioning has to be retained even under adverse conditions. Bacteria performing the second reaction, oxidation of nitrite to nitrate, are fastidious microorganisms that are highly sensitive against disturbances. One important finding with relevance for nitrogen removal systems was the discovery of the mainly cold-adapted Cand. Nitrotoga, whose activity seems to be essential for the recovery of nitrite oxidation in wastewater treatment plants at low temperatures, e.g., during cold seasons. Several new strains of this genus have been recently described and ecophysiologically characterized including genome analyses. With increasing diversity, also mesophilic Cand. Nitrotoga representatives have been detected in activated sludge. This review summarizes the natural distribution and driving forces defining niche separation in artificial nitrification systems. Further critical aspects for the competition with Nitrospira and Nitrobacter are discussed. Knowledge about the physiological capacities and limits of Cand. Nitrotoga can help to define physico-chemical parameters for example in reactor systems that need to be run at low temperatures.

Key points

• Characterization of the psychrotolerant nitrite oxidizer Cand. Nitrotoga

• Comparison of the physiological features of Cand. Nitrotoga with those of other NOB

• Identification of beneficial environmental/operational parameters for proliferation

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00253-021-11487-5.

Recent advances in partial denitrification-anaerobic ammonium oxidation process for mainstream municipal wastewater treatment

To solve the bottleneck of the unstable accumulation of nitrite in the partial nitrification (PN)-anammox (AMX) in municipal wastewater treatment, a novel process called partial denitrification (PD)-AMX has been developed. PD-AMX, which is known for cost-efficiency and environmental friendliness, has currently exhibited a promising potential for the removal of biological nitrogen from municipal wastewater and has attracted much research interest regarding its process mechanisms, as well as its practical applications. Here, we review the recent advances in the PD process and its coupling to the anammox process, including the development, basic principles, main characteristics, and critical process parameters of the stable operation of the PD-AMX process. We also explore the microbial community and its characteristics in the system and summarize the knowledge of the dominant bacteria to clarify the key factors affecting PD-AMX. Then, we introduce the engineering feasibility and economic feasibility as well as the potential challenges of the process. The induction and implementation of partial denitrification and maintenance of mainstream anammox are critical issues to be urgently solved. Meanwhile, the implementation of a full mainstream anammox application remains burdensome, while the mechanism of partial denitrification coupled to anammox needs to be further studied. Additionally, stable operation performance and process control¹ methods need to be optimized or developed for the PD-AMX system for better engineering practice. This review can help to accelerate the research and application of the PD-AMX process for municipal wastewater treatment.

Aged landfill leachate enhances anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is considered as a sustainable pathway to recover energy from organic wastes, but the digestive efficiency for waste activated sludge (WAS) is not as expected due to the limitations in WAS hydrolysis. This study proposes an effective strategy to simultaneously treat WAS and landfill leachate, aiming to promote WAS hydrolysis and enhance organics converting to methane. The effects of landfill leachate on the four stages (i.e., solubilization, hydrolysis, acidogenesis, and methanogenesis) of AD of WAS, as well as the effect mechanisms were investigated. Results showed that adding appropriate amounts of landfill leachate could promote the steps of solubilization, hydrolysis and acidogenesis of WAS, but had no-effect on methanogenesis. The hydrolysis and acidogenesis efficiency in the leachate added digesters were 2.0%-8.4% and 35.2%-72.7% higher than the control digester. Mechanism studies indicated that humic acid (HA) contained in the leachate was conducive to the processes of both hydrolysis and acidogenesis, but detrimental to the methanogenesis. Effects of heavy metals (HMs) on AD of WAS was also dose-dependent. Digestive performance was inhibited by excessive HMs but promoted by moderate dosages. Humic acid and metal ions tend to interact to form complexes, and thus relieve their each inhibition effects. It is also found that the stability of sludge flocs was reduced by the leachate through reducing both apparent activation energy (AAE) and median particle size (MPS) of the sludge. Microbial community and diversity results revealed that the relative abundance of microbes responsible for hydrolysis and acidogenesis increased when landfill leachate was present. This research provides a more technically and economically feasible approach to co-treating and co-utilizing WAS and landfill leachate.

Preparation of ultrahigh-surface-area sludge biopolymers-based carbon using alkali treatment for organic matters recovery coupled to catalytic pyrolysis

In this work, we employed waste activated sludge (WAS) as carbon source to prepare ultrahigh specific surface area (SSA) biopolymers-based carbons (BBCs) through alkali (KOH) treatment coupled to pyrolysis strategy. Before the pyrolysis process, the involvement of KOH made a great recovery of soluble biopolymers from WAS, resulting in highly-efficient catalytic pyrolysis. The Brunner-Emmett-Teller and pore volume of BBCs prepared at 800°C (BBC₈₀₀) reached the maximum at 2633.89 m²·g^-1 and 2.919 m³·g^-1, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy suggested that aromatic carbon in the form of C=C was the dominant fraction of C element in BBCs. The N element in BBCs were composed of pyrrolic nitrogen and pyridinic nitrogen at 700°C, while a new graphitic nitrogen appeared over 800°C. As a refractory pollutant of wastewater treatment plants, tetracycline (TC) was selected to evaluate adsorption performance of BBCs. The adsorption behavior of BBCs towards TC was conformed to the pseudo-second-order kinetic and the Langmuir models, signifying that chemisorption of monolayers was dominant in TC adsorption. The adsorption capacity of BBC₈₀₀ reached the maximum at 877.19 mg·g^-1 for 90 min at 298 K. Thermodynamic analysis indicated that the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. Hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking interaction were mainly responsible for TC adsorption, and interfacial diffusion was the main rate-control step in adsorption process. The presence of soluble microbial products (SMPs) enhanced TC removal. This work provided a novel strategy to prepare bio-carbon with ultrahigh SSA using WAS for highly-efficient removal of organic pollutants.

Activity-Based Cell Sorting Reveals Resistance of Functionally Degenerate Nitrospira during a Press Disturbance in Nitrifying Activated Sludge

Managing and engineering activated sludge wastewater treatment microbiomes for low-energy nitrogen removal requires process control strategies to stop the oxidation of ammonium at nitrite. Our ability to out-select nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) from activated sludge is challenged by their metabolic and physiological diversity, warranting measurements of their in situ physiology and activity under selective growth pressures. Here, we examined the stability of nitrite oxidation in activated sludge during a press disturbance induced by treating a portion of return activated sludge with a sidestream flow containing free ammonia (FA) at 200 mg NH₃-N/liter. The nitrite accumulation ratio peaked at 42% by day 40 in the experimental bioreactor with the press disturbance, while it did not increase in the control bioreactor. A subsequent decrease in nitrite accumulation within the experimental bioreactor coincided with shifts in dominant Nitrospira 16S rRNA amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). We applied bioorthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT) coupled with fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to investigate changes in the translational activity of NOB populations throughout batch exposure to FA. BONCAT-FACS confirmed that the single Nitrospira ASV washed out of the experimental bioreactor had reduced translational activity following exposure to FA, whereas the two Nitrospira ASVs that emerged after process acclimation were not impacted by FA. Thus, the coexistence of functionally degenerate and physiologically resistant Nitrospira populations provided resilience to the nitrite-oxidizing function during the press disturbance. These results highlight how BONCAT-FACS can resolve ecological niche differentiation within activated sludge and inform strategies to engineer and control microbiome function.

IMPORTANCE Nitrogen removal from activated sludge wastewater treatment systems is an energy-intensive process due to the large aeration requirement for nitrification. This energy footprint could be minimized with engineering control strategies that wash out nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) to limit oxygen demands. However, NOB populations can have a high degree of physiological diversity, and it is currently difficult to decipher the behavior of individual taxa during applied selective pressures. Here, we utilized a new substrate analog probing approach to measure the activity of NOB at the cellular translational level in the face of a press disturbance applied to the activated sludge process. Substrate analog probing corroborated the time series reactor sampling, showing that coexisting and functionally degenerate Nitrospira populations provided resilience to the nitrite oxidation process. Taken together, these results highlight how substrate analog approaches can illuminate in situ ecophysiologies within shared niches, and can inform strategies to improve microbiome engineering and management.

Rapid achieving partial nitrification in domestic wastewater: Controlling aeration time to selectively enrich ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) after simultaneously eliminating AOB and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB)

This study developed a novel strategy for rapidly achieving partial nitrification (PN) without additional chemical agents, and infrastructure costs, only by controlling aeration time to selectively enrich ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) after simultaneously eliminating AOB and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Shorter aeration time and sludge retention time (10 days) were implemented to simultaneously eliminate AOB and NOB, the bioactivities drastically decreased to 13 and 0%, respectively. Subsequently, a gradually prolonged aeration time selectively enriched AOB and resulted in PN. The amoA abundances increased to 1.9 × 10¹⁰ copies gVSS^-1, whereas Nitrospira and Nitrobacter abundances remained stable (3.2 × 10⁹ and 3.1 × 10⁹ copies gVSS^-1). A nitrite accumulation rate above 96% was achieved and maintained for 205 days over the entire temperature range (28.5-17.9 °C). The effluent contained 1.9 mg N L^-1 of ammonium, 25.3 mg N L^-1 of nitrite, and less than 1.0 mg N L^-1 of nitrate, facilitating mainstream wastewater anammox.

Nitrification characteristics of long-term idle aerobic activated sludge during domestication

Nitrite accumulation usually occurred when domesticating the idle aerobic activated sludge. A sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was used to investigate whether the short-cut nitrification sludge could be cultivated using the idle sludge as inoculated sludge. The results showed that the nitrification process consisted of three stages. In the first stage, the activity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) were very low with almost no nitrification performance. In the second stage, the activity of AOB started to recover with the effluent NH₄⁺-N gradually decreased to 0.29 mg L^-1, while NOB was alternately inhibited by free ammonia (FA), free nitrous acid (FNA), and nitrite. The effluent NO_x^--N was mainly NO₂^--N with an average nitrite accumulation ratio of 74.00%. In the third stage, the nitrification altered from short-cut nitrification to complete nitrification, and the nitrification kinetics of AOB and NOB were both well-fitted to the Monod equation (R² > 0.92). The variations of effluent pH and ORP between cycles could indicate the recovery stage of the nitrifying ability. Through monitoring the curves of effluent pH and ORP, when the domestication process is between the pH peak and ORP plateau, the short-cut nitrification sludge could be cultivated. This study revealed the mechanism of nitrite accumulation during the domestication of long-term idle aerobic activated sludge, and established a control strategy to accelerate the domestication.

Development of Strategies for AOB and NOB Competition Supported by Mathematical Modeling in Terms of Successful Deammonification Implementation for Energy-Efficient WWTPs

Novel technologies such as partial nitritation (PN) and partial denitritation (PDN) could be combined with the anammox-based process in order to alleviate energy input. The former combination, also noted as deammonification, has been intensively studied in a frame of lab and full-scale wastewater treatment in order to optimize operational costs and process efficiency. For the deammonification process, key functional microbes include ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and anaerobic ammonia oxidation bacteria (AnAOB), which coexisting and interact with heterotrophs and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). The aim of the presented review was to summarize current knowledge about deammonification process principles, related to microbial interactions responsible for the process maintenance under varying operational conditions. Particular attention was paid to the factors influencing the targeted selection of AOB/AnAOB over the NOB and application of the mathematical modeling as a powerful tool enabling accelerated process optimization and characterization. Another reviewed aspect was the potential energetic and resources savings connected with deammonification application in relation to the technologies based on the conventional nitrification/denitrification processes.

Robust Nitritation Sustained by Acid-Tolerant Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria

Oxidation of ammonium to nitrite rather than nitrate, i.e., nitritation, is critical for autotrophic nitrogen removal. This study demonstrates a robust nitritation process in treating low-strength wastewater, obtained from a mixture of real mainstream sewage with sidestream anaerobic digestion liquor. This is achieved through cultivating acid-tolerant ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in a laboratory nitrifying bioreactor at pH 4.5-5.0. It was shown that nitrite accumulation with a high NO₂^-/(NO₂^- + NO₃^-) ratio of 95 ± 5% was stably maintained for more than 300 days, and the obtained volumetric NH₄⁺ removal rate (i.e., 188 ± 14 mg N L^-1 d^-1) was practically useful. 16S rRNA gene sequencing analyses indicated the dominance of new AOB, "Candidatus Nitrosoglobus," in the nitrifying guild (i.e., 1.90 ± 0.08% in the total community), with the disappearance of typical activated sludge nitrifying microorganisms, including Nitrosomonas, Nitrospira, and Nitrobacter. This is the first identification of Ca. Nitrosoglobus as key ammonia oxidizers in a wastewater treatment system. It was found that Ca. Nitrosoglobus can tolerate low pH (<5.0), and free nitrous acid (FNA) at levels that inhibit AOB and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) commonly found in wastewater treatment processes. The in situ inhibition of NOB leads to accumulation of nitrite (NO₂^-), which along with protons (H⁺) also produced in ammonium oxidation generates and sustains FNA at 3.0 ± 1.4 mg HNO₂-N L^-1. As such, robust PN was achieved under acidic conditions, with a complete absence of NOB. Compared to previous nitritation systems, this acidic nitritation process is featured by a higher nitric oxide (NO) but a lower nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission level, with the emission factors estimated at 1.57 ± 0.08 and 0.57 ± 0.03%, respectively, of influent ammonium nitrogen load.

Nitrate/nitrite dependent anaerobic methane oxidation coupling with anammox in membrane biotrickling filter for nitrogen removal

Combining nitrate/nitrite dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (n-DAMO) and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) is a promising sustainable wastewater treatment technology, which simultaneously achieve nitrogen removal and methane emission mitigation. However, the practical application of n-DAMO has been greatly limited by its extremely slow growth-rate and low reaction rate. This work proposes an innovative Membrane BioTrickling Filter (MBTF), which consist of hollow fiber membrane for effective methane supplementation and polyurethane sponge as support media for the attachment and growth of biofilm coupling n-DAMO with Anammox. When steady state with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 6.00 h was reached, above 99.9% of nitrogen was removed from synthetic sidestream wastewater at a rate of 3.99 g N L^-1 d^-1. This system presented robust capacity to withstand unstable partial nitritation effluent, achieving complete nitrogen removal at a varied nitrite to ammonium ratio in the range of 1.10-1.40. It is confirmed that n-DAMO and Anammox microorganisms jointly dominated the microbial community by pyrosequencing technology. The complete nitrogen removal potential at high-rate and efficient biomass retention (12.4 g VSS L^-1) of MBTF offers promising alternative for sustainable wastewater treatment by the combination of n-DAMO and Anammox.

Deammonification process in municipal wastewater treatment: Challenges and perspectives

The deammonification process has been proved to be an efficient nitrogen removal process in treating high NH₄⁺-N concentration wastewater (sidestream deammonification). It is very hopeful to bring WWTP close to energy autarky. However, the feasibility of applying mainstream deammonification to sewage treatment need to be further explored. Therefore, this review attempts to give an overview of challenges in applying mainstream deammonification and to discuss the impacts of unfavorable conditions on main functional species. In addition, some novel control strategies to maintain the dominant position of desired species were summarized. Efficient solution to the conflict between AnAOB (Anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria) biomass retention and NOB (Nitrite oxidizing bacteria) wash out was also reviewed. Ultimately, we suggested further studies including effective improved process that achieve combination of autotrophy and organotrophy species based on the metabolic diversity of AnAOB.

Pretreatments for enhancing sewage sludge reduction and reuse in lipid production

BACKGROUND

Converting wastewater sludge to lipid is considered as one of the best strategies of sludge management. The current problem of lipid production from wastewater sludge is the low yield (0.10-0.16 g lipid/g dry sludge) due to the low availability of easily uptaken materials (such as soluble monosaccharide and oligosaccharide) in sludge to oleaginous microorganism (Rhodotorula glutinis, Trichosporon oleaginosus, Lipomyces starkeyi). Pretreatments are efficient methods to improve sludge bioavailability. This study is aimed to achieve high lipid production from sludge and high sludge reduction.

RESULTS

In this study, it was observed that the soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) had significantly increased after different pretreatment. The SCOD in the supernatant was increased from 32.64 to 180.25 mg/L, 924.16 mg/L, 1029.89 mg/L and 3708.31 mg/L after acidic (pH 2 for 2 h), alkaline (pH 12 for 2 h), microwave irradiation (15 min with 5 min interval), and ultrasonication (30 min at 450 W and 20 kHz frequency with 5 s on and 2 s off mode) pretreatment, respectively. Pretreatments have also increased the release of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) from solids. The sludge after different pretreatments were used as a medium for lipid production, and the highest lipid content (36.67% g/g) was obtained in the fermentation with ultrasonication pretreatment sludge, and the sludge reduction was 63.10%. For other pretreatments, the lipid content and sludge reduction were 18.42% and 32.63% in acid pretreatment case, 21.08% and 36.44% in alkaline pretreatment case, and 26.31% and 43.03% in microwave pretreatment case, respectively.

CONCLUSION

It was found that ultrasonication pretreatment was the most efficient way to increase the sludge biodegradability (SCOD) and to release TN and TP from solid phase to liquid phase. Pretreated sludge for lipid production achieved significant improvement in lipid yield and sludge reduction. Lipids produced from pretreated sludge were transesterified to biodiesel and the analysis showed that biodiesel had a similar composition as commercial biodiesel. The study reveals that pretreatment on sludge is a promising method for enhancing biological sludge management efficiency.

Critical Factors Facilitating Candidatus Nitrotoga To Be Prevalent Nitrite-Oxidizing Bacteria in Activated Sludge

Nitrite oxidation is the primary pathway that generates nitrate in engineered systems. However, little is known about the role of a novel nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) genus Candidatus Nitrotoga in activated sludge systems. To elucidate key factors that impact NOB community composition, laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were designed and operated under the same conditions as real wastewater treatment plants to achieve considerable nitrogen removal and similar community; then, different conditions including temperature (T), dissolved oxygen (DO), free nitrous acid (FNA), and free ammonia (FA) were applied. The 16S rRNA gene-based PCR and sequence analysis illustrated that Ca. Nitrotoga were abundant even at ambient temperature, thus further challenging the previous conception of them being solely cold-adapted. Ca. Nitrotoga are less competitive than Nitrospira during oxygen deficiency, indicating its lower affinity to dissolved oxygen. Ca. Nitrotoga are the dominant nitrite oxidizers under regular exposure to FNA and FA due to their relatively higher resistance than other NOB toward these two effective biocides. Therefore, this study demonstrates that Ca. Nitrotoga can play an important role in biological nitrogen removal and also highlights the need for multiple strategies for NOB suppression for the next-generation, shortcut nitrogen removal.

Performance evaluation of microbial fuel cell for landfill leachate treatment: Research updates and synergistic effects of hybrid systems

Over half of century, sanitary landfill was and is still the most economical treatment strategy for solid waste disposal, but the environmental risks associated with the leachate have brought attention of scientists for its proper treatment to avoid surface and ground water deterioration. Most of the treatment technologies are energy-negative and cost intensive processes, which are unable to meet current environmental regulations. There are continuous demands of alternatives concomitant with positive energy and high effluent quality. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were launched in the last two decades as a potential treatment technology with bioelectricity generation accompanied with simultaneous carbon and nutrient removal. This study reviews capability and mechanisms of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous removal from landfill leachate through MFC technology, as well as summarizes and discusses the recent advances of standalone and hybrid MFCs performances in landfill leachate (LFL) treatment. Recent improvements and synergetic effect of hybrid MFC technology upon the increasing of power densities, organic and nutrient removal, and future challenges were discussed in details.

Return-Sludge Treatment with Endogenous Free Nitrous Acid Limits Nitrate Production and N2O Emission for Mainstream Partial Nitritation/Anammox

Nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) hinder the development of mainstream partial nitritation/anammox. To overcome these, endogenous free ammonia (FA) and free nitrous acid (FNA), which can be produced in the sidestream, were used for return-sludge treatment for two integrated-film activated sludge reactors containing biomass in flocs and on carriers. The repeated exposure of biomass from one reactor to FA shocks had a limited impact on NOB suppression but inhibited anammox bacteria (AnAOB). In the other reactor, repeated FNA shocks to the separated flocs failed to limit the system's nitrate production since NOB activity was still high on the biofilms attached to the unexposed carriers. In contrast, the repeated FNA treatment of flocs and carriers favored aerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AerAOB) over NOB activity with AnAOB negligibly affected. It was further revealed that return-sludge treatment with higher FNA levels led to lower N₂O emissions under similar effluent nitrite concentrations. On this basis, weekly 4 h FNA shocks of 2.0 mg of HNO₂-N/L were identified as an optimal and realistic treatment, which not only enabled nitrogen removal efficiencies of ∼65% at nitrogen removal rates of ∼130 mg of N/L/d (20 °C) but also yielded the lowest cost and carbon footprint.

The occurrence and role of Nitrospira in nitrogen removal systems

Application of the modern microbial techniques changed the paradigm about the microorganisms performing nitrification. Numerous investigations recognized representatives of the genus Nitrospira as a key and predominant nitrite-oxidizing bacteria in biological nutrient removal systems, especially under low dissolved oxygen and substrate conditions. The recent discovery of Nitrospira capable of performing complete ammonia oxidation (comammox) raised a fundamental question about the actual role of Nitrospira in both nitrification steps. This review summarizes the current knowledge about morphological, physiological and genetic characteristics of the canonical and comammox Nitrospira. Potential implications of comammox for the functional aspects of nitrogen removal have been highlighted. The complex meta-analysis of literature data was applied to identify specific individual variables and their combined interactions on the Nitrospira abundance. In addition to dissolved oxygen and influent nitrogen concentrations, temperature and pH may play an important role in enhancing or suppressing the Nitrospira activity.

Long-term stability of partial nitritation-anammox for treatment of municipal wastewater in a moving bed biofilm reactor pilot system

Nitrogen removal from the mainstream of municipal wastewater with partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) would be highly beneficial with regard to the uses of energy and organic carbon. However, the challenges of process instability, low nitrogen removal rates (NRR) and unwanted aerobic nitrite oxidation need to be solved to reach large-scale implementation. Here, we have operated pilot-scale moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs) for mainstream treatment, together with sidestream treatment of sludge liquor from anaerobic digestors, for over 900 days to investigate process stability, reactor performance and microbial community structure at realistic conditions. The MBBR biofilm contained stable and high relative abundances of anammox bacteria (10-32%) consisting of two major Brocadia sp. populations, and several populations of aerobic ammonia-oxidising bacteria (AOB) within Nitrosomonas sp. (0.2-3.1%), as assessed by 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing. In addition, nitrite-oxidising bacteria (NOB) consisting of Nitrospira sp. (0.4-0.8%) and Nitrotoga sp. (up to 0.4%) were present. Nitrogen was removed at a peak rate of 0.66 g N m^-2 d^-1 (0.13 kg N m^-3 d^-1) with a nitrate production over ammonium consumption of 15% by the NOB, at operation with continuous aeration at 15 °C. However, during most periods with continuous aeration, the NRR was lower (≈ 0.45 g N m^-2 d^-1), with larger relative nitrate production (≈40%), presumably due to problems to maintain stable residual ammonium concentrations during wet-weather mainstream flows. Changing reactor operation to intermittent aeration decreased the NRR but did not help in suppressing the NOB. The study shows that with MBBRs, stable mainstream PNA can be attained at realistic NRR, but with need for post-treatment of nitrate, since effective NOB suppression was hard to achieve.

Improving wastewater management using free nitrous acid (FNA)

Free nitrous acid (FNA), the protonated form of nitrite, has historically been an unwanted substance in wastewater systems due to its inhibition on a wide range of microorganisms. However, in recent years, advanced understanding of FNA inhibitory and biocidal effects on microorganisms has led to the development of a series of FNA-based applications that improve wastewater management practices. FNA has been used in sewer systems to control sewer corrosion and odor; in wastewater treatment to achieve carbon and energy efficient nitrogen removal; in sludge management to improve the sludge reduction and energy recovery; in membrane systems to address membrane fouling; and in wastewater algae systems to facilitate algae harvesting. This paper aims to comprehensively and critically review the current status of FNA-based applications in improving wastewater management. The underlying mechanisms of FNA inhibitory and biocidal effects are also reviewed and discussed. Knowledge gaps and current limitations of the FNA-based applications are identified; and perspectives on the development of FNA-based applications are discussed. We conclude that the FNA-based technologies have great potential for enhancing the performance of wastewater systems; however, further development and demonstration at larger scales are still required for their wider applications.

Temperature-Tolerated Mainstream Nitrogen Removal by Anammox and Nitrite/Nitrate-Dependent Anaerobic Methane Oxidation in a Membrane Biofilm Reactor

The mainstream anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process provides strong support to the on-going paradigm shift from energy-negative to energy-neutral in wastewater treatment plants. However, the low temperature (e.g., below 15 °C) represents one of the major challenges for mainstream anammox in practice. In this study, a stable nitrogen removal rate (0.13 kg m^-3 day^-1), together with a high-level effluent quality (<5.0 mg N L^-1), was achieved in a lab-scale upflow membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) by coupling anammox with nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (n-DAMO) microorganisms, at a temperature as low as 10 °C. With the temperature being progressively decreased from 25 to 10 °C, the total nitrogen removal efficiency was maintained in the range of 90-94% at a constant hydraulic retention time of 9 h. The impact of temperature on the biofilm system coupling anammox and n-DAMO reactions increased at a lower temperature range with higher Arrhenius coefficients. Additionally, 16S rRNA gene sequencing results showed that anammox bacteria, n-DAMO bacteria, and n-DAMO archaea jointly dominated the biofilm, and their respective abundances remained relatively stable when the temperature was decreased. The major reason for this temperature-tolerated performance is the overcapacity developed, which is indicated by biofilm thickness measurements and mathematical modeling. The stable performance obtained in this study shows promise for the n-DAMO application in domestic wastewater.

Anammox-based processes: How far have we come and what work remains? A review by bibliometric analysis

Nitrogen contamination remains a severe environmental problem and a major threat to sustainable development worldwide. A systematic analysis of the literature indicates that the partial nitritation-anammox (PN/AMX) process is still actively studied as a viable option for energy-efficient and feasible technology for the sustainable treatment of N- rich wastewaters, since its initial discovery in 1990. Notably, the mainstream PN/AMX process application remains the most challenging bottleneck in AMX technology and fascinates the world's attention in AMX studies. This paper discusses the recent trends and developments of PN/AMX research and analyzes the results of recent years of research on the PN/AMX from lab-to full-scale applications. The findings would deeply improve our understanding of the major challenges under mainstream conditions and next-stage research on the PN/AMX process. A great deal of efforts has been made in the process engineering, PN/AMX bacteria populations, predictive modeling, and the full-scale implementations during the past 22 years. A series of new and excellent experimental findings at lab, pilot and full-scale levels including good nitrogen removal performance even under low temperature (15-10 °C) around the world were achieved. To date, pilot- and full-scale PN/AMX have been successfully used to treat different types of industrial sewage, including black wastewater, sludge digester liquids, landfill leachate, monosodium glutamate wastewater, etc. Supplementing the qualitative analysis, this review also provides a quantitative bibliometrics study and evaluates global perspectives on PN/AMX research published during the past 22 years. Finally, general trends in the development of PN/AMX research are summarized with the aim of conveying potential future trajectories. The current review offers a valuable orientation and global overview for scientists, engineers, readers and decision makers presently focusing on PN/AMX processes.

Performance of Anammox Processes for Wastewater Treatment: A Critical Review on Effects of Operational Conditions and Environmental Stresses

The anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process is well-known as a low-energy consuming and eco-friendly technology for treating nitrogen-rich wastewater. Although the anammox reaction was widely investigated in terms of its application in many wastewater treatment processes, practical anammox application at the pilot and industrial scales is limited because nitrogen removal efficiency and anammox activity are dependent on many operational factors such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen concentration, nitrogen loading, and organic matter content. In practical application, anammox bacteria are possibly vulnerable to non-essential compounds such as sulfides, toxic metal elements, alcohols, phenols, and antibiotics that are potential inhibitors owing to the complexity of the wastewater stream. This review systematically summarizes up-to-date studies on the effect of various operational factors on nitrogen removal performance along with reactor type, mode of operation (batch or continuous), and cultured anammox bacterial species. The effect of potential anammox inhibition factors such as high nitrite concentration, high salinity, sulfides, toxic metal elements, and toxic organic compounds is listed with a thorough interpretation of the synergistic and antagonistic toxicity of these inhibitors. Finally, the strategy for optimization of anammox processes for wastewater treatment is suggested, and the importance of future studies on anammox applications is indicated.

Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactors - How longitudinal gradients influence nitrogen removal - A conceptual study

Membrane-aerated biofilm reactors are becoming more important for nitrogen removal in the wastewater sector. One-dimensional (1D) models are widely used to study the performance of such systems; however, 1D models are not able to simulate the longitudinal gradients that exist in the reactor. Although there is experimental evidence that points to the existence of longitudinal gradients simple modeling approaches that consider these gradients are not yet developed. This study proposes a novel multi-compartment model that simulates the longitudinal substrate and oxygen gradients. It assesses the effects of temperature, biofilm thickness, number of compartments, and flow configuration (liquid and gas phase) on the modeling results. Additionally, it compares the capabilities of a traditional 1D model with those of the novel multi-compartment model. Our results show that a classical 1D model predicts a lower total dissolved nitrogen concentration (TDN) in the effluent in contrast to the predictions of the multi-compartment model. In the worst-case scenario, the TDN predicted by the traditional 1D model was three times lower than the prediction of the multi-compartment model. The results delivered by the models differ also in the axial gradients. The traditional 1D model, for example, predicted an oxygen concentration at the membrane surface of 0.4 mg-O₂/l while the multi-compartment model predicted a concentration of 2.9 mg-O₂/l. Finally, the results of this study show that the longitudinal oxygen gradient has an important effect on both, biomass distribution and effluent TDN, whereas the longitudinal substrate exclusively affected the effluent TDN.

Towards mainstream deammonification of municipal wastewater: Partial nitrification-anammox versus partial denitrification-anammox

The mainstream deammonification has been believed as a viable technology for the energy-neutral municipal wastewater treatment, which can be realized through two approaches known as partial nitrification-anammox (PN/AMX) and partial denitrification-anammox (PDN/AMX). However, large-scale applications of these deammonification processes for municipal wastewater treatment have been rarely reported thus far. Given such a situation, this review examined the mainstream PN/AMX and PDN/AMX processes with the focus on their engineering feasibility, economic viability and potential challenges. It was revealed that soluble COD and stable nitrite production were the main challenges for mainstream deammonification. Pre-capture of COD was essential for mitigating the competition between denitrifiers and anammox bacteria on nitrite, while NOB suppression and partial denitrification control to nitrite stage were critical issues for stable nitrite production in PN and PDN processes respectively. Compared to nitrification-denitrification, the unit oxygen demand for nitrogen removal in PN/AMX and PDN/AMX could be reduced by 57.3% and 47.7%, while the sludge production could also be cut off by 83.7% and 66.3% in PN/AMX and PDN/AMX respectively. These clearly showed the greater economic viability and environmental sustainability of PN/AMX against PDN/AMX. Consequently, more effort is needed to improve the engineering feasibility of large-scale mainstream deammonification for municipal wastewater treatment.

Nitrate addition improves hydrogen production from acidic fermentation of waste activated sludge

In this work, a low-cost alternative method (i.e., adding nitrate into WAS) to significantly enhance hydrogen production was reported. Experimental results showed that with an increase of nitrate addition from 0 to 362 mg/L, the maximal hydrogen production from acidic (pH 5.5) fermentation of WAS obviously increased from 12.6 ± 0.5 to 19.3 ± 0.9 mL per gram volatile suspended solids (VSS). The mechanism investigations illustrated more substrates were provided for subsequent hydrogen production. Although the nitrate added inhibited all the biological processes, its inhibition to the hydrogen consumption processes was much severer than that to the hydrogen production processes. The enzyme analyses on the long-term semi-continuous fermenters showed that the nitrate addition slightly inhibited the relative activities of protease, butyrate kinase, acetate kinase, CoA-transferase, and [FeFe] hydrogenase but largely suppressed the relative activities of coenzyme F₄₂₀, carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, and adenylyl sulfate reductase.

Comparing two hydrazine addition strategies to stabilize mainstream deammonification: Performance and microbial community analysis

In this study, an expanded granular sludge blanket reactor (EGSB) was proposed to achieve stable mainstream deammonification process by adding hydrazine (N₂H₄). Two N₂H₄ addition methods consisted of constant concentration (strategy A) and variable concentration (strategy B) both can inhibit nitrite oxidizing bacteria. A efficient performance was achieved with higher total nitrogen removal efficiency (82 ± 6%) and nitrogen removal rate (0.32 ± 0.02 kg N/(m³·d)) under strategy B. For strategy A, anaerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AnAOB) in-situ activity was decreased from 2.76 to 0.68 mg N/(g VSS·h) at 42 mg/L NH₄⁺-N. Candidatus Brocadia abundance increase from 14.62% to 20.07% under the strategy may indicated the self-regulate mechanism of AnAOB. Aerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB, mainly Nitrosomonas) and AnAOB (mainly Candidatus Brocadia) were always dominated under two strategies. Strategy B provided better environment for most microorganisms (mainly Chloroflexri, Planctomycetes, Proteobacteria and Chlorobi).

Isolation and identification of a salt-tolerant aerobic denitrifying bacterial strain and its application to saline wastewater treatment in constructed wetlands

A salt-tolerant aerobic denitrifying bacterium, Zobellella denitrificans strain A63, was isolated, and its effects on the efficiency of denitrification of saline wastewater and the denitrifying microbial community structure in the matrix were studied in vertical-flow constructed wetlands (VFCWs). In a VFCW system with strain A63, the removal efficiencies of NH₄⁺-N, NO₃^--N, and total nitrogen reached 79.2%, 95.7%, and 89.9%, respectively. Quantitative PCR analysis indicated that the amoA gene from ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) was highly abundant, whereas amoA from ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and nxrA from nitrite-oxidizing bacteria were lowly abundant because of the influent salinity, irrespective of whether strain A63 was added. However, the addition of strain A63 significantly increased the abundance of nirK in the top layer of the VFCW. Therefore, AOA-driven partial nitrification and aerobic denitrification by strain A63 occurred in VFCWs. Our findings suggest that adding salt-tolerant denitrifying strains to constructed wetlands can enhance denitrification for saline wastewater treatment.

Partial denitrification providing nitrite: Opportunities of extending application for anammox

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) has been extensively investigated for cost-efficient nitrogen removal from wastewater. However, the major issues of nitrate (NO₃^--N) residue and instability in the current combination of nitritation and anammox process necessitates being addressed efficiently. The recently proposed partial-denitrification (PD), terminating NO₃^--N reduction to nitrite (NO₂^--N), has been regarded as a promising alternative of NO₂^--N supplying for anammox bacteria. Given the engineering practices, the steadily high NO₂^--N production, alleviating organic inhibition, and reducing greenhouse gas of PD process offers a viable and efficient approach for anammox implementation. Moreover, it allows for the extending applications of anammox process due to the NO₃^--N removal availability. Here we comprehensively review the important new outcomes and discuss the emerging applications of PD-based anammox including the process development, mechanism understanding, and future trends. Significant greater stability and enhanced nitrogen removal efficiency have been demonstrated in the novel integrations of PD and anammox process, indicating a broad perspective in dealing with the mainstream municipal sewage, ammonia-rich streams, and industrial NO₃^--N contained wastewater. Furthermore, researches are still needed for the predictable and controllable strategies, along with the detailed microbiological information in future study. Overall, the achievement of PD process provides unique opportunity catalyzing the engineering applications of energy-efficient and environmental-friendly wastewater treatment via anammox technology.

Achieving efficient nitrogen removal from real sewage via nitrite pathway in a continuous nitrogen removal process by combining free nitrous acid sludge treatment and DO control

The incomplete denitrification due to insufficient carbon resource in the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) resulted in low nitrogen removal efficiency, which has become a widespread problem in China and all around the world. Reducing the requirement of carbon source by manipulating the nitrogen removal pathway from conventional nitrification-denitrification to partial nitrification-denitrification is considered as an efficient solution. In this article, the feasibility of combining free nitrous acid (FNA) sludge treatment and DO control to achieve partial nitrification-denitrification in a continuous flow system (aerobic-anoxic-oxic process) using real sewage was assessed. The nitrite pathway was rapidly established in the experimental reactor within 23 days by simultaneously lowering DO concentration in aerobic zone to 0.5 mg/L and treating 30% of the activated sludge per day from the reactor in the FNA sludge treatment unit with FNA concentration of 1.2 mg N/L and exposure time of 18 h. The nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) were efficiently washed out and the partial nitrification process could maintain stable in the experimental reactor even after cease of FNA treatment and increase of DO concentrations in the main stream to 1.5 mg/L, with an average nitrite accumulation rate of above 78%. In contrast, the nitrite accumulation rate was just around 58% during low DO concentrations phase and declined quickly to below 1% after the DO concentrations were increased to 1.5 mg/L in the control reactor which only utilized single strategy of DO control to achieve nitrite pathway. Moreover, a better sludge settleability and nitrogen removal performance could also be realized in the experimental reactor. The results of nitrifying bacteria activities and quantities detection demonstrated that although NOB activities in both reactors were effectively inhibited, a certain amount of NOB (6.26 × 10⁶ copies/g MLSS) were remained in the control reactor and multiplied rapidly as the DO concentration increased, which might break down the partial nitrification. Furthermore, the quantity results of nitrogen cycling related functional genes showed that the increment of the ratio of nitrate reduced bacteria to total bacteria was 0.35% larger than that of nitric oxide bacteria in the control reactor, while those two ratios increased similarly by 1.11% and 1.12% in the experimental reactor, respectively, which might be one potential cause of reduction in N₂O emission of nitrite pathway achieved by FNA-based technologies.

Free nitrous acid pretreatment of sludge to achieve nitritation: The effect of sludge concentration

This study investigated the effect of sludge concentration (expressed by mixed liquor volatile suspended solids, MLVSS) on free nitrous acid (FNA) pretreatment strategy to achieve nitritation. Results showed when FNA was 0.308 mgHNO₂-N/L, nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) activity increased by 70.2% as MLVSS increased from 8.4 to 16.8 g/L. Nitrite accumulation ceased as MLVSS increased to 12.6 g/L, indicating that FNA inhibition of NOB gradually weakened with increasing MLVSS. When FNA was higher than 0.770 mgHNO₂-N/L, NOB activity was completely inhibited and the effect of MLVSS on FNA inhibition was negligible, with nitrite accumulation potential (NAP) varying from 88.1% to 90.0%. Mechanism investigation demonstrated flocs sizes distinctly declined, with more extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) released to resist FNA inactivation. Linear fitting showed NAP increased with FNA/MLVSS increment. Therefore, MLVSS affected FNA pretreatment performance, with FNA/MLVSS proposed as a more valuable criterion in FNA pretreatment strategy development, than the solely FNA.