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Thermophilic biological nitrogen removal in industrial wastewater treatment

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Nitrification is an integral part of biological nitrogen removal processes and usually the limiting step in wastewater treatment systems. Since nitrification is often considered not feasible at temperatures higher than 40 °C, warm industrial effluents (with operating temperatures higher than 40 °C) need to be cooled down prior to biological treatment, which increases the energy and operating costs of the plants for cooling purposes. This study describes the occurrence of thermophilic biological nitrogen removal activity (nitritation, nitratation, and denitrification) at a temperature as high as 50 °C in an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant treating wastewater from an oil refinery. Using a modified two-step nitrification–two-step denitrification mathematical model extended with the incorporation of double Arrhenius equations, the nitrification (nitrititation and nitratation) and denitrification activities were described including the cease in biomass activity at 55 °C. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses revealed that Nitrosomonas halotolerant and obligatehalophilic and Nitrosomonas oligotropha (known ammonia-oxidizing organisms) and Nitrospira sublineage II (nitrite-oxidizing organism (NOB)) were observed using the FISH probes applied in this study. In particular, this is the first time that Nitrospira sublineage II, a moderatedly thermophilic NOB, is observed in an engineered full-scale (industrial) wastewater treatment system at temperatures as high as 50 °C. These observations suggest that thermophilic biological nitrogen removal can be attained in wastewater treatment systems, which may further contribute to the optimization of the biological nitrogen removal processes in wastewater treatment systems that treat warm wastewater streams.

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Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely acknowledge the cooperation from various WWTP managers and practitioners during the collection of activated sludge samples to perform the laboratory activity tests. M. Kubare and C. Chikamba want to thank the Netherlands organization for international cooperation in higher education (Nuffic) for the financial support to undertake their M.Sc. studies at UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. The valuable help provided by Markus Schmid with the confocal laser scanning microscopy of the probe-labeled Nitrospira is highly appreciated. Also, the authors would like to thank Dimitry Sorokin, from Delft University of Technology, for his valuable comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Engineering and Water Technology Department, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611, Delft, The Netherlands

    C. M. Lopez-Vazquez, M. Kubare, C. Chikamba & D. Brdjanovic

  2. Centre for Environmental Health Engineering (CEHE) Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Surrey GU2 7XH, Guilford, UK

    D. P. Saroj

  3. Department of Microbial Ecology, Ecology Centre, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    J. Schwarz & H. Daims

  4. Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628, Delft, The Netherlands

    D. Brdjanovic

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  1. C. M. Lopez-Vazquez
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  2. M. Kubare
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  3. D. P. Saroj
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  4. C. Chikamba
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  6. H. Daims
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Correspondence to C. M. Lopez-Vazquez.

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Lopez-Vazquez, C.M., Kubare, M., Saroj, D.P. et al. Thermophilic biological nitrogen removal in industrial wastewater treatment. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 945–956 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-013-4950-6

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