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Short-term effects of excessive anaerobic reaction time on anaerobic metabolism of denitrifying polyphosphate-accumulating organisms linked to phosphorus removal and N2O production

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Abstract

The short-term effect of anaerobic reaction time (AnRT) (i.e., 90, 120 and 150 min) on the denitrifying phosphorus (P) removal performance and N2O production was examined using a denitrifying enhanced biologic phosphorus removal (EBPR) sludge acclimatized with mixed acetate (HAc) and propionate (Pro) (in the molar ratio 3:1) as carbon sources. The results showed that when the AnRT was prolonged from 90 to 150 min, the anaerobic polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthesis was decreased by 15.3%. Moreover, the ineffective PHA consumption occurred in anaerobic phases and contributed to an increased NO −2 -N accumulation and higher free nitrous acid (FNA) concentrations (⩾0.001–0.0011 mg HNO2-N/L) in the subsequent anoxic phases, causing a severe inhibition on anoxic P-uptake and denitrification. Accordingly, the total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) removal efficiencies dropped by approximately 6.3% and 85.5%, respectively; and the ratio of anoxic N2O-N production to TN removal increased by approximately 3.8%. The fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis revealed that the sludge was mainly dominated by Accumulibacter (62.0% (SEmean = 1.5%)). In conclusion, the short-term excessive anaerobic reaction time negatively impacted denitrifying P removal performance and stimulated more N2O production, and its effect on P removal was more obvious than that on nitrogen removal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Gang Guo, Yayi Wang, Chong Wang, Hong Wang & Shaowei Chen

  2. Shanghai Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry, Shanghai, 200040, China

    Mianli Pan

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  2. Yayi Wang
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  4. Hong Wang
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Correspondence to Yayi Wang.

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Guo, G., Wang, Y., Wang, C. et al. Short-term effects of excessive anaerobic reaction time on anaerobic metabolism of denitrifying polyphosphate-accumulating organisms linked to phosphorus removal and N2O production. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 7, 616–624 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-013-0505-4

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