Superior mainstream partial nitritation in an acidic membrane-aerated biofilm reactor.

Shortcut nitrogen removal holds significant economic appeal for mainstream wastewater treatment. Nevertheless, it is too difficult to achieve the stable suppression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), and simultaneously maintain the activity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). This study proposes to overcome this challenge by employing the novel acid-tolerant AOB, namely "Candidatus Nitrosoglobus", in a membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MABR). Superior partial nitritation was demonstrated in low-strength wastewater from two aspects. First, the long-term operation (256 days) under the acidic pH range of 5.0 to 5.2 showed the successful NOB washout by the in situ free nitrous acid (FNA) of approximately 1 mg N/L. This was evidenced by the stable nitrite accumulation ratio (NAR) close to 100 % and the disappearance of NOB shown by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Second, oxygen was sufficiently supplied in the MABR, leading to an unprecedentedly high ammonia oxidation rate (AOR) at 2.4 ± 0.1 kg N/(m3 d) at a short hydraulic retention time (HRT) of a mere 30 min. Due to the counter diffusion of substrates, the present acidic MABR displayed a significantly higher apparent oxygen affinity (0.36 ± 0.03 mg O2/L), a marginally lower apparent ammonia affinity (14.9 ± 1.9 mg N/L), and a heightened sensitivity to FNA and pH variations, compared with counterparts determined by flocculant acid-tolerant AOB. Beyond supporting the potential application of shortcut nitrogen removal in mainstream wastewater, this study also offers the attractive prospect of intensifying wastewater treatment by markedly reducing the HRT of the aerobic unit.

Decoupling the simultaneous effects of NO2-, pH and free nitrous acid on N2O and NO production from enriched nitrifying activated sludge.

In the pursuit of energy and carbon neutrality, nitrogen removal technologies have been developed featuring nitrite (NO2-) accumulation. However, high NO2- accumulations are often associated with stimulated greenhouse gas (i.e., nitrous oxide, N2O) emissions. Furthermore, the coexistence of free nitrous acid (FNA) formed by NO2- and proton (pH) makes the consequence of NO2- accumulation on N2O emissions complicated. The concurrent three factors, NO2-, pH and FNA may play different roles on N2O and nitric oxide (NO) emissions simultaneously, which has not been systematically studied. This study aims to decouple the effects of NO2- (0-200 mg N/L), pH (6.5-8) and FNA (0-0.15 mg N/L) on the N2O and NO production rates and the production pathways by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB), with the use of a series of precisely executed batch tests and isotope site-preference analysis. Results suggested the dominant factors affecting the N2O production rate were NO2- and FNA concentrations, while pH alone played a relatively insignificant role. The most influential factor shifted from NO2- to FNA as FNA concentrations increased from 0 to 0.15 mg N/L. At concentrations below 0.0045 mg HNO2-N/L, nitrite rather than FNA played a significant role stimulating N2O production at elevated nitrite concentrations. The inhibition effect of FNA emerged with further increase of FNA between 0.0045-0.015 mg HNO2-N/L, weakening the promoting effect of increased nitrite. While at concentrations above 0.015 mg HNO2-N/L, FNA inhibited N2O production especially from nitrifier denitrification pathway with the level of inhibition linearly correlated with the FNA concentration. pH and the nitrite concentration regulated the production pathways, with elevated pH promoting the nitrifier nitrification pathway, while elevated NO2- concentrations promoting the nitrifier denitrification pathway. In contrast to N2O, NO emission was less susceptible to FNA at concentrations up to 0.015 mg N/L but was stimulated by increasing NO2- concentrations. This study, for the first time, distinguished the effects of pH, NO2- and FNA on N2O and NO production, thereby providing support to the design and operation of novel nitrogen removal systems with NO2- accumulation.

A novel free nitrous acid (FNA)-generation pathway via ferric salts hydrolysis to mitigate sulfide and methane production in sewer: Insights into the performance and microbial mechanisms.

Ferric chloride (FeCl3) served as a solid acid has attracted attention recently. However, the feasibility of FeCl3 combined with nitrite for free nitrous acid (FNA) generation in controlling sulfide and methane as well as the triggering mechanisms in the complex syntrophic consortium (i.e., sewer biofilm) remain largely unknown. This work disclosed FeCl3 as an alternative acid source could obtain comparable sulfide and methane mitigations at a low FNA dose (i.e., 0.26 mg N/L), compared to that of HCl acid source. Whereas, a faster recovery rate of sulfide production was observed using FeCl3 under a higher FNA dose (i.e., 0.81 mg N/L) despite the methane control still being comparable. The toxicological mechanisms revealed FNA reacted with proteins amide Ⅰ in extracellular polymeric substances and destroyed protein hydrogen bond. Enzymatic and genic analysis unveiled the overall suppression of hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, sulfidogenesis and methanogenesis steps due to the inactivation of viable cells by reactive nitrogen species. Economic and environmental assessments demonstrated that the ferric-based FNA strategy reduced chemical costs and N2O emission (ca. 26.5% decrease) compared to the traditional HCl-based FNA method. This work broadens the application of iron salt-based technology in urban water system, together with understanding the biological mechanisms of FNA-based technology.

Reactive nitrogen species from free nitrous acid (FNA) cause cell lysis.

Free nitrous acid (FNA, i.e. HNO2) has been demonstrated to have broad biocidal effects on a range of microorganisms, which has direct implications for wastewater management. However, the biocidal mechanisms still remain largely unknown. This study aims to test the hypothesis that FNA will induce cell lysis via cell membrane perforations, and consequently cause cell death via proteolysis, through the use of two model organisms namely Escherichia coli K12 and Pseudomonas putida KT2440. A combination of analytical techniques that included viability assays, atomic force microscopy (AFM), protein abundance assays and proteomic analysis using Quadruple-Orbitrap™ Mass spectrometry was used to evaluate the extent of cell death and possible cell lysis mechanisms. FNA treatment at 6.09 mg/L for 24 h (conditions typically applied in applications) induced 36 ± 4.2% and 91 ± 3.5% cell death/lysis of E. coli and P. putida, respectively. AFM showed that the lysis of cells was observed via perforations in the cell membrane; cells also appeared to shrink and become flat following FNA treatment. By introducing a reactive nitrogen species (RNS) scavenger to act as a treatment control, we further revealed that it was the nitrosative decomposition species of FNA, such as .NO that caused the cell lysis through the destruction of protein macromolecules found in the cell membrane (proteolysis). Subsequently, the RNS went on to cause the destruction of protein macromolecules within the cells. The death of these model organisms E. coli and P. putida following exposure to FNA treatment provides insights into the use of FNA as an antimicrobial agent in wastewater treatment.

A green, hybrid cleaning strategy for the mitigation of biofouling deposition in the elevated salinity forward osmosis membrane bioreactor (FOMBR) operation.

Forward osmosis membrane bioreactors (FOMBRs) are currently gaining attention from the wastewater treatment industry, for their potential to produce high effluent quality and a relatively better flux stability against fouling. However, only using physical cleaning methods is not sufficient to recover the water flux performance satisfactorily under a long-term operation. This study comprehensively investigated the efficiency of a hybrid, environmentally-friendly cleaning strategy involving a combination of physical and free nitrous acid (FNA) cleanings under a long-term FOMBR operation. During 92 days of FOMBR operation, physical cleaning recovered the water flux by 85%, whilst FNA cleaning contributed to an additional 5% of the recovery. In addition, FNA cleaning also offered a retardation of fouling deposition by maintaining the water flux 18-30% more than that obtained by only the physical cleaning. A possible mechanism for FNA's role as the cleaning reagent was proposed for the first time in this study based on the water flux performance and membrane autopsy analysis. The results showed FNA cleaning broke down the residual fouling layer, preferencing protein-based substances. A lower ratio of protein to polysaccharides of the residual fouling layer contributed to a more negatively charged membrane surface (- 42.34 ± 0.30 mV) compared to the virgin one (- 17.54 ± 0.81 mV). This resulted in a stronger electrostatic repulsion between the foulants and the membrane surface, and thus slowed down the biofouling deposition process. This study suggested FNA solution has the great potential not only to recover the membrane performance, also as a strategy to slow down fouling deposition.

Stable nitritation of mature landfill leachate via in-situ selective inhibition by free nitrous acid.

In-situ free nitrous acid (FNA) and free ammonia (FA) treatments are more feasible than side-stream methods to achieve nitritation. To assess the optimum conditions and long-term performance of in-situ inhibition by FNA, batch tests and a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating mature landfill leachate were conducted and established. As a result, the selective inhibition characteristic by FNA was more conspicuous than FA, and FNA (0.175 mg N/L, 6 h) treatment are more biocidal to nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Moreover, ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were more sensitive to the FA environment but its activity recovered preferentially compared to NOB. The SBR achieved a sustained nitrite accumulation rate above 90% for 200 days, with a significant decrease of NOB activity and microbial abundance according to qPCR and 16S rRNA gene sequencing results. In-situ selective inhibition by FNA (0.175 mg N/L, 6 h) has been proved to be effective to maintain stable nitritation.

Nitrite and nitrate inhibition thresholds for a glutamate-fed bio-P sludge.

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) is an efficient and sustainable technology to remove phosphorus from wastewater. A widely known cause of EBPR deterioration in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is the presence of nitrate/nitrite or oxygen in the anaerobic reactor. Moreover, most existing studies on the effect of either permanent aerobic conditions or inhibition of EBPR by nitrate or free nitrous acid (FNA) have been conducted with a "Candidatus Accumulibacter" or Tetrasphaera-enriched sludge, which are the two major reported groups of polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAO) with key roles in full-scale EBPR WWTPs. This work reports the denitrification capabilities of a bio-P microbial community developed using glutamate as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen. This bio-P sludge exhibited a high denitrifying PAO (DPAO) activity, in fact, 56% of the phosphorus was uptaken under anoxic conditions. Furthermore, this mixed culture was able to use nitrite and nitrate as electron acceptor for P-uptake, being 1.8 µg HNO2-N·L-1 the maximum FNA concentration at which P-uptake can occur. Net P-removal was observed under permanent aerobic conditions. However, this microbial culture was more sensitive to FNA and permanent aerobic conditions compared to "Ca. Accumulibacter"-enriched sludge.

Inactivation kinetics of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria by free nitrous acid.

Recent studies have shown that free nitrous acid (FNA, i.e., HNO2) is biocidal to many microorganisms, promoting the development of FNA-based technology in biological wastewater treatment. Suppression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) is a critical step for autotrophic nitrogen removal via anammox. In this study, the biocidal effect of FNA on NOB was determined by developing a model methodology combined with NOB incubation. Sixteen groups of FNA exposure tests were conducted at five different FNA concentrations from 0 to 4 mg HNO2-N/L, obtained from three pH values (5.0, 5.5 and 6.0) with nitrite ranged from 21 to 1680 mg NO2--N/L, with one as a control. Nitrate production curves were tracked during incubations of the FNA-exposed sludge, and then used to estimate active NOB concentrations by the kinetic model-based fitting. The results showed that with 24-hour exposure to FNA at a level of over 1 mg HNO2-N/L, the active NOB decreased around two orders of magnitude compared with that in the primordial sludge. The Weibull model can well describe the biocidal effect, which would be useful for the optimization of FNA conditions. The maximum NOB growth rate was increased after FNA exposure. This result suggests that long-term implementation of FNA-based technology can select fast-growing NOB in activated sludge, causing a 'NOB adaptation' issue.

Extracellular polymeric substance decomposition linked to hydrogen recovery from waste activated sludge: Role of peracetic acid and free nitrous acid co-pretreatment in a prefermentation-bioelectrolysis cascading system.

Free nitrous acid (FNA) has been recently reported to be an effective and eco-friendly inactivator for waste activated sludge (WAS), while the limited decomposition of the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) matrix hampers resource recovery from WAS. This work employed peracetic acid (PAA) to assist FNA and explored the contribution of co-pretreatment to hydrogen recovery in a prefermentation-bioelectrolysis cascading system. The results showed that co-pretreatment led to approximately 8.8% and 20.4% increases in the exfoliation of particulate proteins and carbohydrates, respectively, from tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) over that of sole FNA pretreatment. Electron paramagnetic resonance analysis verified that the synergistic effect of FNA, PAA and various generated free radicals was the essential process. This effect further promoted the accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) after 96 h of prefermentation, and the peak concentration in co-pretreated WAS (AD-FPWAS) was approximately 2.5-fold that in sole FNA-pretreated WAS (AD-FWAS). Subsequently, the cascading utilization of organics in the bioelectrolysis step contributed to efficient hydrogen generation. A total of 10.8 ± 0.3 mg H2/g VSS was harvested in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) fed with AD-FPWAS, while 6.2 ± 0.1 mg H2/g VSS was obtained from AD-FWAS. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed the effective decomposition of the phospholipid bilayer in the cytomembrane and the transformation of macromolecular organics into VFAs and hydrogen in the cascading system. Further microbial community analysis demonstrated that co-pretreatment enhanced the accumulation of functional consortia, including anaerobic fermentative bacteria (AFB, 28.1%), e.g., Macellibacteroides (6.3%) and Sedimentibacter (6.9%), and electrochemically active bacteria (EAB, 57.0%), e.g., Geobacter (39.0%) and Pseudomonas (13.6%), in the prefermentation and MEC steps, respectively. The possible synergetic and competitive relationships among AFB, EAB, homo-acetogens, nitrate-reducing bacteria and methanogens were explored by molecular ecological network analysis. From an environmental and economic perspective, this promising FNA and PAA co-pretreatment approach provides new insight for energy recovery from WAS biorefineries.

Achieving partial nitrification and high lipid production in an algal-bacterial granule system when treating low COD/NH4-N wastewater.

Partial nitrification-Anammox process is an efficient and energy-saving method for nitrogen removal from low C/N wastewaters. In this study, partial nitrification was achieved in an algal-bacterial granular sludge system when treating low COD/NH4-N (309.4 mg L-1/213.6 mg L-1) wastewater under sunlight irradiation (RS). Sunlight irradiation, algae growth and free nitrous acid (FNA) decreased the activity of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) by 25.7% and completely inhibited the activity of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB), resulting in a NH4-N removal efficiency of ≥99% and a nitrite accumulation efficiency of 96.5% in Rs. Compared with the control without sunlight irradiation (RC), the algal-bacterial granules in RS produced 34.7% and 13.1% more proteins and polysaccharides, respectively, and exhibited a higher structure stability. The lipid content in the algal-bacterial granules was 68.7 mg g-SS-1, which was about 2.1 times higher than that in the granules from RC, making the algal-bacterial granule a value-added biomass. Meanwhile, the content of unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters increased remarkably due to the growth of algae (Stigeoclonium, Scenedesmus and Navicula). The combined stress of sunlight irradiation, algae growth and high FNA in RS only slightly lowered the relative abundance of Nitrosomonadaceae (AOB family) from 7.5% to 5.8%, while Nitrospiraceae (NOB family) was severely inhibited and became undetectable.

Novel insights into integrated fermentation and nitrogen removal by free nitrous acid (FNA) serving as treatment method.

Free nitrous acid (FNA) has only been studied as the pretreatment of waste activated sludge (WAS). Integrated fermentation and nitrogen removal using FNA as a primary means of treatment are seldom investigated. WAS fermentation was characterized under various FNA concentration. The production of COD, protein, and carbohydrate increased with FNA concentration (in the range of 0.197-1.97 mg/L) before the denitrification process. Volatile fatty acids (VFA) were only produced after complete denitrification. Potential FNA impact on fermentation step found FNA facilitated both solubilization and hydrolysis but inhibited acidification, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis processes. The types of fermentation were determined using threedimensional excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy. Protein-like substances and Tyrosine/Tryptophan were the most dominant dissolved organic matters (DOMs). The cell decay rate increased from 0.044 to 0.102/d based on the nonlinear fitting for the FNA concentration of 0.197-1.97 mg/L. The microbial biomass mortality reached 92.7% when the FNA in tight extracellular polymeric substances (T-EPS) exceeded 0.04 mg/L. In addition, the microbial diversity and microbial structure were substantially reduced by FNA during long-term operation, while the bacterial abundance associated with hydrolysis and acidification increased significantly.

Enhanced dewaterability of anaerobically digested sludge by in-situ free nitrous acid treatment.

As the protonated form of nitrite, free nitrous acid (FNA) is a renewable chemical that can be produced on site from the anaerobic digestion liquor by nitritation, and has been widely employed to improve the fermentation of waste activated sludge (WAS). However, it is not clear whether and how FNA improves the dewaterability of anaerobically digested sludge (ADS). This work therefore aims to provide such supports through comparing the dewaterability of ADS treated by nitrite at different concentrations (0-250 mg/L) under three pH values (5.5, 6.3, or 7.2). Environmental results showed that nitrite was completely denitrified within 12 h, and its addition improved the dewaterability of ADS in all the cases. The optimal normalized capillary suction time of 18.0 ±â€¯0.4 s L/g VSS was obtained at nitrite 50 mg/L and pH 5.5 (equivalent of 0.35 mg/L FNA) in comparison with corresponding value of 23.2 ±â€¯0.4 s L/g·VSS at pH 5.5 (equivalent of 0 mg/L FNA). Under this scenario, 80.5% ±â€¯2.0% of water content was obtained in the FNA-treated sample after press filtration while the corresponding value was 88.5% ±â€¯1.7% in the control. The mechanism investigations showed that FNA treatment reduced surface negative charge of ADS flocs and caused disruption of extracellular polymeric substances and release of intracellular substances, which enhanced the flocculability, hydrophobicity, and flowability, but decreased the bound water content, fractal dimension, and viscosity of ADS. Additionally, FNA treatment altered the secondary structure of proteins through destroying the hydrogen bond, which led to a loose structure of protein, benefiting the exposure of hydrophobic sites or groups in EPS proteins. The findings obtained deepen our understanding of FNA affecting sludge dewatering and provide strong supports to sustainable operation of wastewater treatment plants.

High-efficient nitrogen removal from mature landfill leachate and waste activated sludge (WAS) reduction via partial nitrification and integrated fermentation-denitritation process (PNIFD).

Biological nitrogen removal from mature landfill leachate is ineffective due to the extremely low carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio. Moreover, a large amount of waste activated sludge (WAS) is inevitably generated from WWTPs during the municipal sewage treatment process. In this study, an innovative process was developed to enhance nitrogen removal from low C/N (1:1) mature landfill leachate and to reduce the WAS during a 300-day operation. Two sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were involved in this process. Firstly, the mature landfill leachate was pumped into an aerobic reactor to undergo partial nitrification (PN-SBR). Then, the PN-SBR effluent and WAS were pumped into an anoxic reactor to undergo integrated fermentation and denitritation (IFD-SBR). The pH profile was treated as a real-time parameter to precisely control the duration of the PN and IFD processes. Partial nitrification and integrated fermentation-denitritation (PNIFD) system achieved a total nitrogen removal efficiency of 95.0% and an average nitrogen removal rate (NRR) of 0.63 kg/m3·d during the last operational phase. Due to a variety of refractory contaminants, the effluent COD concentration was 1865.9 mg/L and a 19.7% COD removal efficiency was obtained under an influent concentration of 2324.5 mg/L. Compared with the traditional nitrogen removal process, PNIFD not only decreased requirements for oxygen by 25% and the external organic carbon by 100%, but also achieved simultaneous reduction of external WAS. More than 53.7% of the external sludge was reduced during the IFD-SBR operational cycle, with an average external sludge reduction rate (SRR) of 5.09 kg/m3·d. Fermentation/denitritation related microorganisms, such as Anaerolineaceae, Acidimicrobiaceae and Thauera, accounted for up to 41.5% of the total abundance in the IFD-SBR. Based on the long and stable operation, this study provides a simple and promising approach for synchronous nitrogen removal and WAS reduction.

Achieving nitritation by treating sludge with free nitrous acid: The effect of starvation.

Side-stream sludge treatment using free nitrous acid (FNA) is a novel strategy to achieve nitritation in mainstream of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). To optimize nitritation, the effect of starvation on this strategy was investigated in this study. The results showed that pre-starvation, which is the starvation before FNA treatment, enhanced the resistance of sludge to FNA. This led to a decrease in the nitrite accumulation rate (NAR), which dropped from 70% to 27% after aerobic pre-starvation. This was further confirmed in the FNA treatment using the sludge collected from the secondary settling tank (anoxic pre-starvation) and the aerobic zone (without starvation) of an Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic system. The post-starvation, which was the starvation after FNA treatment, decreased NAR from 63% to 14%. To obtain a higher NAR, the sludge used for FNA treatment should be collected from aerobic zone, and be returned to aerobic zone after treatment to avoid pre-starvation and post-starvation.

Effects of free nitrous acid treatment conditions on the nitrite pathway performance in mainstream wastewater treatment.

Inline sludge treatment using free nitrous acid (FNA) was recently shown to be effective in establishing the nitrite pathway in a biological nitrogen removal system. However, the effects of FNA treatment conditions on the nitrite pathway performance remained to be investigated. In this study, three different FNA treatment frequencies (daily sludge treatment ratios of 0.22, 0.31 and 0.38, respectively), two FNA concentrations (1.35 mgN/L and 4.23 mgN/L, respectively) and two influent feeding regimes (one- and two-step feeding) were investigated in four laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactors. The nitrite accumulation ratio was positively correlated to the FNA treatment frequency. However, when a high treatment frequency was used e.g., daily sludge treatment ratio of 0.38, a significant reduction in ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) activity occurred, leading to poor ammonium oxidation. AOB were able to acclimatise to FNA concentrations up to of 4.23 mgN/L, whereas nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) were limited by an FNA concentration of 1.35 mgN/L over the duration of the study (up to 120 days). This difference in sensitivity to FNA could be used to further enhance nitrite accumulation, with 90% accumulation achieved at an FNA concentration of 4.23 mgN/L and a daily sludge treatment ratio of 0.31 in this study. However, this high level of nitrite accumulation led to increased N2O emission, with emission factors of up to 3.9% observed. The N2O emission was mitigated (reduced to 1.3%) by applying two-step feeding resulting in a nitrite accumulation ratio of 45.1%. Economic analysis showed that choosing the optimal FNA treatment conditions depends on a combination of the wastewater characteristics, the nitrogen discharge standards, and the operational costs. This study provides important information for the optimisation and practical application of FNA-based sludge treatment technology for achieving the mainstream stable nitrite pathway.

Inactivation and adaptation of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria when exposed to free nitrous acid.

Inactivation and adaptation of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) to free nitrous acid (FNA) was investigated. Batch test results showed that AOB and NOB were inactivated when treated with FNA. After an 85-day operating period, AOB in a continuous pre-denitrification reactor did not adapt to the FNA that was applied to treat some of the return activated sludge. In contrast, NOB did adapt to FNA. NOB activity in the seed sludge was only 11% of the original activity after FNA batch treatment, at 0.75mg HNO2-N/L. NOB activity in the pre-denitrification reactor was not affected after being exposed to this FNA level. Nitrosomonas was the dominant AOB before and after long-term FNA treatment. However, dominant NOB changed from Nitrospira to Candidatus Nitrotoga, a novel NOB genus, after long-term FNA treatment. This adaptation of NOB to FNA may be due to the shift in NOB population makeup.

Nitrite production from urine for sulfide control in sewers.

Most commonly used methods for sewer sulfide control involves dosing chemical agents to wastewater, which incurs high operational costs. Here, we propose and demonstrate a cost-effective and environmentally attractive approach to sewer sulfide control through urine separation and its subsequent conversion to nitrite prior to intermittent dosage to sewers. Urine collected from a male toilet urinal was fed to laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactors. The reactors stably converted roughly 50% of the nitrogen in urine to nitrite, with high abundance (at 17.46%) of known ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) of the genus Nitrosomonas, and absence (below detection level) of typical nitrite-oxidizing bacteria of the genus Nitrospira, according to 454 pyrosequencing analysis. The stable nitrite production was achieved at both relatively high (1.0-2.0 mg/L) and low (0.2-0.3 mg/L) dissolved oxygen concentrations. Dosing tests in laboratory-scale sewer systems confirmed the sulfide control effectiveness of free nitrous acid generated from urine. Life cycle assessment indicated that, compared with commodity chemicals, nitrite/free nitrous acid (FNA) production from urine for sulfide control in sewers would lower the operational costs by approximately 2/3 and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 1/3 in 20 years.

[Comparison of Operating Performance of Partial Nitritation Systems with Two Different Inhibition Strategies].

Two SBRs which were under high ammonia loading[1 kg·(m3·d)-1] and different dual inhibition with feed-batch were employed to study how to control the stability of partial nitritation system. The experimental result showed that the dual inhibition of FNA and DO or FA and DO could implement partial nitrification process at 35℃±1℃ and the ammonia concentration of 1000 mg·L-1. The effluent NO2--N/NH4+-N ratio was about 1, and the effluent NO3--N concentration was close to 0, which was suitable for the appropriate influent for the ANAMMOX. In R1, under the dual inhibition of high FA and low DO concentration, the nitrite oxidizing rate was reduced from 28.16 mg·(g·h)-1 to 0.3 mg·(g·h)-1 (calculated as NO2--N, the same as below). The ammonia oxidizing rate decreased by 43.60%, which was stable at about 20 mg·(g·h)-1 (calculated as NH4+-N, the same as below). In R2,under the dual inhibition of high FNA and low DO concentration, the nitrite oxidizing rate reduced from 12.37 mg·(g·h)-1 to 0.02 mg·(g·h)-1. But the ammonia oxidizing rate remained at a higher level[45 mg·(g·h)-1]. Comparing the nitrification performance of the two SBRs under different control strategies, the dual inhibition of high FNA and low DO concentration had the advantages of short cultivation period, high biological activity and stable operation. It is therefore more suitable for the achievement of the partial nitrification.

[Start-up and Capacity Enhancement of a Partial Nitrification Pilot Reactor in Continuous Flow].

The continuous flow reactor was used to treat simulated ammonia nitrogen wastewater by inoculating the sludge after filtration and adding a suspended filler. Regulations of free ammonia (FA), free nitrous acid (FNA), and dissolved oxygen (DO) in the reactor were the key to achieving a successful start-up of the pilot scale nitrosation reactor. The results show that the enrichment of ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and the elimination of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) are achieved by adjusting the operational mode of high DO, low DO, FA, and FNA in the reactor operation. The nitrite production rate (NPR) in the reactor was 1.27 kg·(m3·d)-1 and the nitrogen accumulation rate (NAR) was stable at 98% at the end of the start-up period. qPCR was used to study the difference in the functional microorganisms (AOB, NOB) between the beginning and the end of the start-up period. The results show that the copy number of microbial AOB grew from 5.3×109 copies·mL-1 to 1.6×1011 copies·mL-1. The copy number of NOB decreased from 1.1×1010 copies·mL-1 to 1.2×109 copies·mL-1, because of the joint regulation of DO, FA, FNA to suppress NOB.