Improvement of nitrification efficiency by bioaugmentation in sequencing batch reactors at low temperature

Abstract

Bioaugmentation is an effective method of treating municipal wastewater with high ammonia concentration in sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) at low temperature (10°C). The cold-adapted ammonia- and nitrite- oxidizing bacteria were enriched and inoculated, respectively, in the bioaugmentation systems. In synthetic wastewater treatment systems, the average \mathrm{N}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{4}}^{+}-N removal efficiency in the bioaugmented system (85%) was much higher than that in the unbioaugmented system. The effluent \mathrm{N}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{4}}^{+}-N concentration of the bioaugmented system was stably below 8 mg·L^-1 after 20 d operation. In municipal wastewater systems with bioaugmentation, the effluent \mathrm{N}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{4}}^{+}-N concentration was below 8 mg·L^-1 after 15 d operation. The average \mathrm{N}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{4}}^{+}-N removal efficiency in unbioaugmentation system (about 82%) was lower compared with that in the bioaugmentation system. By inoculating the cold-adapted nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) into the SBRs after 10 d operation, the nitrite concentration decreased rapidly, reducing the \mathrm{N}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{2}}^{-}-N accumulation effectively at low temperature. The functional microorganisms were identified by PCR-DGGE, including uncultured Dechloromonas sp., uncultured Nitrospira sp., Clostridium sp. and uncultured Thauera sp. The results suggested that the cold-adapted microbial agent of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and NOB could accelerate the start-up and promote achieving the stable operation of the low-temperature SBRs for nitrification.

Keywords

nitrification / sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) / bioaugmentation / low temperature

References

[1] Henze M, Grady C P L Jr, Gujer W, Marais G R, Matuso T. Activated sludge model No. 1 (Scientific and Technical Reports No. 1). London: IAWPRC, 1987

[2] Krishna C, Mark C M, Loosdrecht V. Substrate flux into storage and growth in relation to activated sludge modeling. Water Research, 1999, 33(14): 3149–3161

[3] Kishida N, Saeki G, Tsuneda S, Sudo R. Rapid start-up of a nitrifying reactor using aerobic granular sludge as seed sludge. Water Science and Technology, 2012, 65(3): 581–588

[4] Guo J B, Wang J H, Cui D, Wang L, Ma F, Chang C C, Yang J X. Application of bioaugmentation in the rapid start-up and stable operation of biological processes for municipal wastewater treatment at low temperatures. Bioresource Technology, 2010, 101(17): 6622–6629

[5] Daverey A, Su S H, Huang Y T, Lin J G. Nitrogen removal from opto-electronic wastewater using the simultaneous partial nitrification, anaerobic ammonium oxidation and denitrification (SNAD) process in sequencing batch reactor. Bioresource Technology, 2012, 113: 225–231

[6] Zhu G B, Peng Y Z, Wang S Y, Wu S Y, Ma B. Effect of influent flow rate distribution on the performance of step-feed biological nitrogen removal process. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2007, 131: 319–328

[7] Guo J B, Ma F, Qu Y Y, Li A, Wang L. Systematical strategies for wastewater treatment and the generated wastes and greenhouse gases in China. Frontiers of Environmental Science and Engineering in China, 2012, 2: 271–279

[8] Venkata Mohan S, Chandrashekara Rao N, Krishna Prasad K, Madhavi B T V, Sharma P N. Treatment of complex chemical wastewater in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with an aerobic suspended growth configuration. Process Biochemistry, 2005, 40(5): 1501–1508

[9] Chang H N, Moon R K, Park B G, Lim S J, Choi D W, Lee W G, Song S L, Ahn Y H. Simulation of sequential batch reactor (SBR) operation for simultaneous removal of nitrogen and phosphorus. Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, 2000, 23(5): 513–521

[10] Rittmann B E, McCarty P L. Environmental Biotechnology: Principles and Application. New York: McGraw-Hill International Editions, 2001, 470–525

[11] Cui D, Li A, Zhang S, Pang C L, Yang J X, Guo J B, Ma F, Wang J H, Ren N Q. Microbial community analysis of three municipal wastewater treatment plants in winter and spring using culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2012, 28(6): 2341–2353

[12] Karkman A, Mattila K, Tamminen M, Virta M. Cold temperature decreases bacterial species richness in nitrogen-removing bioreactors treating inorganic mine waters. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2011, 108(12): 2876–2883

[13] Ducey T F, Vanotti M B, Shriner A D, Szogi A A, Ellison A Q. Characterization of a microbial community capable of nitrification at cold temperature. Bioresource Technology, 2010, 101(2): 491–500

[14] Singh K S, Viraraghavan T. Effect of temperature on bio-kinetic coefficients in UASB treatment of municipal wastewater. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 2002, 136(1–4): 243–254

[15] da Motta M, Pons M N, Roche N. Monitoring filamentous bulking in activated sludge systems fed by synthetic or municipal wastewater. Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, 2003, 25(6): 387–393

[16] Chen S, Ling J, Blancheton J. Nitrification kinetics of biofilm as affected by water quality factors. Aquacultural Engineering, 2006, 34: 179–197

[17] Ma F, Guo J B, Zhao L J, Chang C C, Cui D. Application of bioaugmentation to improve the activated sludge system into the contact oxidation system treating petrochemical wastewater. Bioresource Technology, 2009, 100(2): 597–602

[18] Zhao L J, Guo J B, Yang J X, Wang L, Ma F. Bioaugmentation as a tool to accelerate the start-up of anoxic-oxic process in a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant at low temperature. International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2009, 37(2–3): 205–215

[19] Martin R W Jr, Robert Baillod C, Mihelcic J R. Low-temperature inhibition of the activated sludge process by an industrial discharge containing the azo dye acid black 1. Water Research, 2005, 39(1): 17–28

[20] Head M A, Oleszkiewicz J A. Bioaugmentation for nitrification at cold temperatures. Water Research, 2004, 38(3): 523–530

[21] Leu S Y, Stenstrom M K. Bioaugmentation to improve nitrification in activated sludge treatment. Water Environment Research, 2010, 82(6): 524–535

[22] LaPara T M, Klatt C G, Chen R Y. Adaptations in bacterial catabolic enzyme activity and community structure in membrane-coupled bioreactors fed simple synthetic wastewater. Journal of Biotechnology, 2006, 121(3): 368–380

[23] LaPara T M, Nakatsu C H, Pantea L M, Alleman J E. Stability of the bacterial communities supported by a seven-stage biological process treating pharmaceutical wastewater as revealed by PCR-DGGE. Water Research, 2002, 36(3): 638–646

[24] Watanabe K, Kodama Y, Harayama S. Design and evaluation of PCR primers to amplify bacterial 16S ribosomal DNA fragments used for community fingerprinting. Journal of Microbiological Methods, 2001, 44(3): 253–262

[25] APHA. Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater. Washington, D C: American Public Health Assoc, 2005

[26] State Environmental Protection Administration of China. Discharge standard of pollutants for municipal wastewater treatment plant (GB 18918–2002). Beijing: China Environmental Science Press, 2002 (in Chinese)

[27] Qiu Z F, Zhou Q, Yang D H, Li F T. Start-up and commissioning of A²/O municipal wastewater treatment plant. Water and Wastewater Engineering, 2005, 31(9): 30–33 (in Chinese)

[28] Ciudad G, Werner A, Bornhardt C, Munoz C, Antileo C. Differential kinetics of ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria: a simple kinetic study based on oxygen affinity and proton release during nitrification. Process Biochemistry, 2006, 41(8): 1764–1772

[29] Allen J G, Beutel M W, Call D R, Fischer A M. Effects of oxygenation on ammonia oxidation potential and microbial diversity in sediment from surface-flow wetland mesocosms. Bioresource Technology, 2010, 101(4): 1389–1392

[30] Freitag T E, Chang L, Clegg C D, Prosser J I. Influence of inorganic nitrogen management regime on the diversity of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria in agricultural grassland soils. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2005, 71(12): 8323–8334

[31] Chen C, Ren N Q, Wang A J, Liu L H, Lee D J. Functional consortium for denitrifying sulfide removal process. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2010, 86(1): 353–358

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Creative Research Group from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51121062), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51108120 and 51178139), and the 4th China Postdoctoral Science Special Foundation (No. 201104430).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg