Characterization of CANON reactor performance and microbial community shifts with elevated COD/N ratios under a continuous aeration mode

Highlights

COD/N at low ratios (0–0.82) improved N removals of CANON.

CANON performance decreased after COD/N up to 0.82.

The relative abundance of AOB decreased continuously with increasing COD/N.

AOB outcompeted at a high COD load led to CANON failure.

The relative abundance of AnAOB decreased and increased with increasing COD/N.

Abstract

The effects of increasing COD/N on nitrogen removal performance and microbial structure were investigated in a SBR adopting a completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite process with a continuous aeration mode (DO at approximately 0.15–0.2 mg/L). As the COD/N increased from 0.1 to≤0.59, the nitrogen removal efficiency (NRE) increased from 88.7% to 95.5%; while at COD/N ratios of 0.59–0.82, the NRE remained at 90.7%–95.5%. As the COD/N increased from 0.82 to 1.07, the NRE decreased continuously until reaching 60.1%. Nitrosomonas sp. (AOB) and Candidatus Jettenia (anammox bacteria) were the main functional genera in the SBR. As the COD/N increased from 0.10 to 1.07, the relative abundance of Nitrosomonas decreased from 13.4% to 2.0%, while that of Candidatus Jettenia decreased from 35% to 9.9% with COD/N<0.82 then increased to 45.4% at a COD/N of 1.07. Aerobic heterotrophic bacteria outcompeted AOB at high COD loadings (650 mg/L) because of oxygen competition, which ultimately led to deteriorated nitrogen removal performance.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

CANON process / COD/N ratio / Anammox / Ammonia oxidizing bacteria / Aerobic heterotrophic bacteria

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51522809 and 51378370). The Foundation of the State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse (Tongji University), China (Grant No. PCRRT16005) is also acknowledged.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-019-1095-6 and is accessible for authorized users.

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