Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Optimization of operation conditions for the mitigation of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from aerobic nitrifying granular sludge system

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The optimization of operation parameters is a key consideration to minimize nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in biological nitrogen removal processes. So far, different parameters have only been investigated individually, making it difficult to compare their specific effects and combined influences. In this study, we applied the Plackett–Burman (PB) multifactorial experimental design and response surface methodology (RSM) analysis to find the optimized condition for the mitigation of N2O release in a nitrifying granular sludge system. Seven parameters (temperature, pH, feeding strategy, C/N ratio, aeration rate, Cu2+ concentration, and aeration mode) were tested in parallel. Five of them (other than chemical oxygen demand/nitrogen (C/N) ratio and Cu2+ concentration) were selected as influential factors. Since the type of feeding strategies and aeration modes cannot be quantified, continuous feed strategy and anoxic/oxic aeration mode were applied for the following study. Influences of temperature, pH, and aeration rate on N2O emissions were tested with RSM analysis to further investigate the mutual interactions among the parameters and to identify the optimal values that would minimize N2O release. Results showed the minimum emission value could be obtained under the temperature of 22.3 °C, pH of 7.1 and aeration rate of 0.20 m3/h. Predicted results were then verified by subsequent validation experiments. The estimated N2O emission value of each design by RSM was also observed in good relationships with experimental result.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abdel-Fattah YR, Saeed HM, Gohar YM, El-Baz MA (2005) Improved production of Pseudomonas aeruginosa uricase by optimization of process parameters through statistical experimental designs. Process Biochem 40:1707–1714

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ahn JH, Kim S, Park H, Rahm B, Pagilla K, Chandran K (2010) N2O emissions from activated sludge processes, 2008–2009: results of a national monitoring survey in the United States. Environ Sci Technol 44:4505–4511

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ahn JH, Kwan T, Chandran K (2011) Comparison of partial and full nitrification processes applied for treating high-strength nitrogen wastewaters: microbial ecology through nitrous oxide production. Environ Sci Technol 45:2734–2740

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ahuja S, Ferreira G, Moreira A (2004) Application of Plackett‐Burman design and response surface methodology to achieve exponential growth for aggregated shipworm bacterium. Biotechnol Bioeng 85:666–675

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • APHA (2005) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 21st edn. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Benoit M, Garnier J, Billen G (2015) Temperature dependence of nitrous oxide production of a luvisolic soil in batch experiments. Process Biochem 50:79–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Castro-Barros CM, Daelman M, Mampaey K, van Loosdrecht M, Volcke E (2015) Effect of aeration regime on N2O emission from partial nitritation-anammox in a full-scale granular sludge reactor. Water Res 68:793–803

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chandran K, Stein LY, Klotz MG, van Loosdrecht MC (2011) Nitrous oxide production by lithotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and implications for engineered nitrogen-removal systems. Biochem Soc Trans 39:1832

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen Y, Wang D, Zhu X, Zheng X, Feng L (2012) Long-term effects of copper nanoparticles on wastewater biological nutrient removal and N2O generation in the activated sludge process. Environ Sci Technol 46:12452–12458

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chung Y, Chung M (2000) BNP test to evaluate the influence of C/N ratio on N2O production inbiological denitrification. Water Sci Technol 42:23–27

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Colliver B, Stephenson T (2000) Production of nitrogen oxide and dinitrogen oxide by autotrophic nitrifiers. Biotechnol Adv 18:219–232

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Domingo-Félez C, Mutlu AG, Jensen MM, Smets BF (2014) Aeration strategies to mitigate nitrous oxide emissions from single-stage nitritation/anammox reactors. Environ Sci Technol 48:8679–8687

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gejlsbjerg B, Frette L, Westermann P (1998) Dynamics of N2O production from activated sludge. Water Res 32:2113–2121

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Granger J, Ward BB (2003) Accumulation of nitrogen oxides in copper-limited cultures of denitrifying bacteria. Limnol Oceanogr 48:313–318

  • Hanaki K, Hong Z, Matsuo T (1992) Production of nitrous oxide gas during denitrification of wastewater. Water Sci Technol 26:1027–1036

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holtan-Hartwig L, Dörsch P, Bakken L (2002) Low temperature control of soil denitrifying communities: kinetics of N2O production and reduction. Soil Biol Biochem 34:1797–1806

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hu Z, Lee JW, Chandran K, Kim S, Khanal SK (2012) Nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from aquaculture: a review. Environ Sci Technol 46:6470–6480

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2006) 2006 IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories. IGES, Japan

    Google Scholar 

  • Kampschreur MJ, Tan NC, Kleerebezem R, Picioreanu C, Jetten MS, Loosdrecht MC (2007) Effect of dynamic process conditions on nitrogen oxides emission from a nitrifying culture. Environ Sci Technol 42:429–435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kampschreur MJ, Temmink H, Kleerebezem R, Jetten MS, van Loosdrecht MC (2009) Nitrous oxide emission during wastewater treatment. Water Res 43:4093–4103

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Karl TR et al (2015) Possible artifacts of data biases in the recent global surface warming hiatus. Science 348:1469–1472

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Law Y, Lant P, Yuan Z (2011) The effect of pH on N2O production under aerobic conditions in a partial nitritation system. Water Res 45:5934–5944

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Law Y, Ni B-J, Lant P, Yuan Z (2012a) N2O production rate of an enriched ammonia-oxidising bacteria culture exponentially correlates to its ammonia oxidation rate. Water Res 46:3409–3419

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Law Y, Ye L, Pan Y, Yuan Z (2012b) Nitrous oxide emissions from wastewater treatment processes. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci 367:1265–1277

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Law Y, Lant P, Yuan Z (2013) The confounding effect of nitrite on N2O production by an enriched ammonia-oxidizing culture. Environ Sci Technol 47:7186–7194

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee W, Kang S, Shin H (2003) Sludge characteristics and their contribution to microfiltration in submerged membrane bioreactors. J Membr Sci 216:217–227

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lochmatter S, Holliger C (2014) Optimization of operation conditions for the startup of aerobic granular sludge reactors biologically removing carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous. Water Res 59:58–70

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ni B-J, Ye L, Law Y, Byers C, Yuan Z (2013) Mathematical modeling of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from full-scale wastewater treatment plants. Environ Sci Technol 47:7795–7803

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nicolau A, Martins MJ, Mota M, Lima N (2005) Effect of copper in the protistan community of activated sludge. Chemosphere 58:605–614

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Peng L, Ni B-J, Erler D, Ye L, Yuan Z (2014) The effect of dissolved oxygen on N2O production by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in an enriched nitrifying sludge. Water Res 66:12–21

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Peng L, Ni B-J, Ye L, Yuan Z (2015) The combined effect of dissolved oxygen and nitrite on N2O production by ammonia oxidizing bacteria in an enriched nitrifying sludge. Water Res 73:29–36

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Puri S, Beg QK, Gupta R (2002) Optimization of alkaline protease production from Bacillus sp. by response surface methodology. Curr Microbiol 44:286–290

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ravishankara A, Daniel JS, Portmann RW (2009) Nitrous oxide (N2O): the dominant ozone-depleting substance emitted in the 21st century. Science 326:123–125

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reddy L, Wee Y-J, Yun J-S, Ryu H-W (2008) Optimization of alkaline protease production by batch culture of Bacillus sp. RKY3 through Plackett–Burman and response surface methodological approaches. Bioresour Technol 99:2242–2249

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson D, Felgate H, Watmough N, Thomson A, Baggs E (2009) Mitigating release of the potent greenhouse gas N2O from the nitrogen cycle–could enzymic regulation hold the key? Trends Biotechnol 27:388–397

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez-Caballero A, Aymerich I, Marques R, Poch M, Pijuan M (2015) Minimizing N2O emissions and carbon footprint on a full-scale activated sludge sequencing batch reactor. Water Res 71:1–10

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schreiber F, Loeffler B, Polerecky L, Kuypers MM, De Beer D (2009) Mechanisms of transient nitric oxide and nitrous oxide production in a complex biofilm. ISMEJ 3:1301–1313

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shi Y-J, Wang X-H, Yu H-B, Xie H-J, Teng S-X, Sun X-F, Tian B-H, Wang S-G (2011) Aerobic granulation for nitrogen removal via nitrite in a sequencing batch reactor and the emission of nitrous oxide. Bioresour Technol 102:2536–2541

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shi L, Wei D, Ngo HH, Guo W, Du B, Wei Q (2015) Application of anaerobic granular sludge for competitive biosorption of methylene blue and Pb(II): Fluorescence and response surface methodology. Bioresour Technol 194:297–304

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki I, Dular U, Kwok S (1974) Ammonia or ammonium ion as substrate for oxidation by Nitrosomonas europaea cells and extracts. J Bacteriol 120:556–558

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Swamy GJ, Sangamithra A, Chandrasekar V (2014) Response surface modeling and process optimization of aqueous extraction of natural pigments from Beta vulgaris using Box–Behnken design of experiments. Dyes Pigments 111:64–74

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sweetapple C, Fu G, Butler D (2014) Identifying sensitive sources and key control handles for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment. Water Res 62:249–259

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tak B-y, Tak B-s, Kim Y-j, Park Y-j, Yoon Y-h, Min G-h (2015) Optimization of color and COD removal from livestock wastewater by electrocoagulation process: Application of Box–Behnken design (BBD). J Ind Eng Chem 28:307–315

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tallec G, Garnier J, Billen G, Gousailles M (2008) Nitrous oxide emissions from denitrifying activated sludge of urban wastewater treatment plants, under anoxia and low oxygenation. Bioresour Technol 99:2200–2209

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tsiaka T, Zoumpoulakis P, Sinanoglou VJ, Makris C, Heropoulos GA, Calokerinos AC (2015) Response surface methodology toward the optimization of high-energy carotenoid extraction from Aristeus antennatus shrimp. Anal Chim Acta 877:100–110

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wunderlin P, Mohn J, Joss A, Emmenegger L, Siegrist H (2012) Mechanisms of N2O production in biological wastewater treatment under nitrifying and denitrifying conditions. Water Res 46:1027–1037

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao Z, Liu P, Qin Jy XP (2007) Statistical optimization of medium components for enhanced acetoin production from molasses and soybean meal hydrolysate. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 74:61–68

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xu J, Sheng G-P, Ma Y, Wang L-F, Yu H-Q (2013) Roles of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in the migration and removal of sulfamethazine in activated sludge system. Water Res 47:5298–5306

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Q, Liu X, Peng C, Wang S, Sun H, Peng Y (2009) N2O production during nitrogen removal via nitrite from domestic wastewater: main sources and control method. Environ Sci Technol 43:9400–9406

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang S, Gao M-M, Liang S, Wang S-G, Wang X-H (2013) Effects of step-feed on long-term performances and N2O emissions of partial nitrifying granules. Bioresour Technol 143:682–685

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu X, Chen Y (2011) Reduction of N2O and NO generation in anaerobic−aerobic (low dissolved oxygen) biological wastewater treatment process by using sludge alkaline fermentation liquid. Environ Sci Technol 45:2137–2143

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu X, Chen Y, Chen H, Li X, Peng Y, Wang S (2013) Minimizing nitrous oxide in biological nutrient removal from municipal wastewater by controlling copper ion concentrations. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97:1325–1334

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51108250), the Shandong Province Natural Science Foundation (ZR2015EM028), and the Fundamental Research Funds of Shandong University (2015JC025).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Rui-Ting Liu, Xin-Hua Wang, Yan Zhang, Ming-Ming Gao & Shu-Guang Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Ming-Yu Wang

Authors
  1. Rui-Ting Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xin-Hua Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yan Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ming-Yu Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ming-Ming Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Shu-Guang Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xin-Hua Wang.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Bingcai Pan

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, RT., Wang, XH., Zhang, Y. et al. Optimization of operation conditions for the mitigation of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from aerobic nitrifying granular sludge system. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 9518–9528 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6178-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6178-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation