Methanation and chemolitrophic nitrogen removal by an anaerobic membrane bioreactor coupled partial nitrification and Anammox

Highlights

● Efficient carbon methanation and nitrogen removal was achieved in AnMBR-PN/A system.

● AOB outcompeted NOB in PN section by limiting aeration and shortening SRT.

● The moderate residual organic matter of PN section triggered PD in anammox unit.

● AnAOB located at the bottom of UASB played an important role in nitrogen removal.

Abstract

An AnMBR-PN/A system was developed for mainstream sewage treatment. To verify the efficient methanation and subsequent chemolitrophic nitrogen removal, a long-term experiment and analysis of microbial activity were carried out. AnMBR performance was less affected by the change of hydraulic retention time (HRT), which could provide a stable influent for subsequent PN/A units. The COD removal efficiency of AnMBR was > 93% during the experiment, 85.5% of COD could be recovered in form of CH₄. With the HRT of PN/A being shortened from 10 to 6 h, nitrogen removal efficiency (NRE) of PN/A increased from 60.5% to 80.4%, but decreased to 68.8% when the HRT_PN/A further decreased to 4 h. Microbial analysis revealed that the highest specific ammonia oxidation activity (SAOA) and the ratio of SAOA to specific nitrate oxidation activity (SNOA) provide stable NO₂⁻-N/NH₄⁺-N for anammox, and anammox bacteria (mainly identified as Candidatus Brocadia) enriched at the bottom of Anammox-UASB might play an important role in nitrogen removal. In addition, the decrease of COD in Anammox-UASB indicated partial denitrification occurred, which jointly promoted nitrogen removal with anammox.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Anaerobic membrane bioreactor / Partial nitrification/Anammox / Carbon separation / Chemolitrophic nitrogen removal

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52070148 and 52270049), the Shaanxi Provincial Key Program for Science and Technology Development (China) (No.2022KWZ-25), and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (No. P20794).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1668-2 and is accessible for authorized users.

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