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Micro-electrolysis/retinervus luffae-based simultaneous autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrification for low C/N wastewater treatment

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Abstract

Nitrogen bioremediation in organic insufficient wastewater generally requires an extra carbon source. In this study, nitrate-contaminated wastewater was treated effectively through simultaneous autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrification based on micro-electrolysis carriers (MECs) and retinervus luffae fructus (RLF), respectively. The average nitrate and total nitrogen removal rates reached 96.3 and 94.0% in the MECs/RLF-based autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrification (MRAHD) system without ammonia and nitrite accumulation. The performance of MRAHD was better than that of MEC-based autotrophic denitrification for the wastewater treatment with low carbon nitrogen (COD/N) ratio. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) revealed that the relative abundance of nirS-type denitrifiers attached to MECs (4.9%) and RLF (5.0%) was similar. Illumina sequencing suggested that the dominant genera were Thiobacillus (7.0%) and Denitratisoma (5.7%), which attached to MECs and RLF, respectively. Sulfuritalea was discovered as the dominant genus in the middle of the reactor. The synergistic interaction between autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrifiers played a vital role in the mixotrophic substrate environment.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51278034 and No. 51408028).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Jinlong Li, Desheng Li, Yuwei Cui, Wei Xing & Shihai Deng

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Aqueous Typical Pollutants Control and Water Quality Safeguard, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Jinlong Li, Desheng Li, Wei Xing & Shihai Deng

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  1. Jinlong Li
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  2. Desheng Li
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  3. Yuwei Cui
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  4. Wei Xing
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  5. Shihai Deng
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Correspondence to Desheng Li.

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Responsible editor: Gerald Thouand

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Li, J., Li, D., Cui, Y. et al. Micro-electrolysis/retinervus luffae-based simultaneous autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrification for low C/N wastewater treatment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 16651–16658 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9179-y

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