Dynamics of specific ammonia-oxidizing bacterial populations and nitrification in response to controlled shifts of ammonium concentrations in wastewater.

Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) are essential for the nitrification process in wastewater treatment. To retain these slow-growing bacteria in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), they are often grown as biofilms, e.g., on nitrifying trickling filters (NTFs) or on carriers in moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs). On NTFs, a decreasing ammonium gradient is formed because of the AOB activity, resulting in low ammonium concentrations at the bottom and reduced biomass with depth. To optimize the NTF process, different ammonium feed strategies may be designed. This, however, requires knowledge about AOB population dynamics. Using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and confocal laser scanning microscopy, we followed biomass changes during 6 months, of three AOB populations on biofilm carriers. These were immersed in aerated MBBR tanks in a pilot plant receiving full-scale wastewater. Tanks were arranged in series, forming a wastewater ammonium gradient mimicking an NTF ammonium gradient. The biomass of one of the dominating Nitrosomonas oligotropha-like populations increased after an ammonium upshift, reaching levels comparable to the high ammonium control in 28 days, whereas a Nitrosomonas europaea-like population increased relatively slowly. The MBBR results, together with competition studies in NTF systems fed with wastewater under controlled ammonium regimes, suggest a differentiation between the two N. oligotropha populations, which may be important for WWTP nitrification.

Nitrification potential and population dynamics of nitrifying bacterial biofilms in response to controlled shifts of ammonium concentrations in wastewater trickling filters.

Nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment is energy consuming and often carried out in biofilm nitrifying trickling filters (NTFs). We investigated nitrification potential and population dynamics of nitrifying bacteria in pilot-plant NTFs fed with full-scale plant wastewater with high (8-9 mg NH(4)(+)l(-1)) or low (<0.5mg NH(4)(+)l(-1)) ammonium concentrations. After ammonium shifts, nitrification potentials stabilized after 10-43 days depending on feed regime. An NTF fed with 3 days of high, and 4 days of low load per week reached a high nitrification potential, whereas a high load for 1 day a week gave a low potential. Nitrosomonas oligotropha dominated the AOB and changes in nitrification potentials were not explained by large population shifts to other AOBs. Although nitrification potentials were generally correlated with the relative amounts of AOB and NOB, this was not always the case. Ammonium feed strategies can be used to optimize wastewater treatment performance.