Association of robust nitrogen removal with spatiotemporal nitrifying bacterial community dynamics in a new bioreactor for treatment of simulated livestock wastewater with high ammonia content

Abstract

BACKGROUND Different types of nitrogen‐containing wastewater have been treated with dewatered alum sludge (DAS) or neutralized used acid (NUA) or with a combined DAS–NUA biofilter. The connections between the spatiotemporal structures of ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite‐oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and the nitrogen removal performance of DAS–NUA biofilter have not been fully clarified. To address this issue, AOB and NOB genetic characteristics response to nitrogen conversions in a laboratory‐scale DAS–NUA biofilter were investigated. RESULTS The spatiotemporal distribution of the AOB in DAS was heterogeneous in the bioreactor. The trends observed in its structure were a function of depth along the flowpaths and time. However, AOB in NUA and NOB in both substrates were time and space independent. The spatial and temporal behavior of nitrifying bacteria mainly depended on the pH, followed by dissolved oxygen. The Shannon indexes of AOB and NOB and the relative abundances of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter had significantly negative relationships with NH+4–N and total nitrogen concentrations in effluents. CONCLUSIONS The Shannon indexes of AOB and NOB and the relative abundances of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter were the key indicators of nitrogen removal and have implications for effective nitrogen attenuation strategies. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry

Response Characteristics of Nitrifying Bacteria and Archaea Community Involved in Nitrogen Removal and Bioelectricity Generation in Integrated Tidal Flow Constructed Wetland-Microbial Fuel Cell

“…As shown in Figure 6C, the relative abundance of Nitrobacter in each sample was the highest (from 86.95 to 99.99%). This is consistent with the previous study, which has described that Nitrobacter is the single abundant genus in NOB (Zhang et al, 2019). However, it is opposite to another study using laboratory-scale devices, which has reported that Nitrospira is the predominant genus in NOB (Sayess et al, 2013).…”

“…The correlation between the genus and nitrogen removal ( Table 4) further indicated that NH 4 + -N concentration was significantly negatively correlated with Candidatus Nitrosotenuis (belongs AOA), Nitrobacter (belongs NOB), and Planctomyces (belongs to V4−V5 region microorganisms) with R-values of −0.617 (P < 0.05), −0.648 (P < 0.01), and −0.819 (P < 0.01), respectively. Candidatus Nitrosotenuis was the dominant genus of AOA, and a low C/N ratio could significantly promote its relative abundance in the cathode layer during the stabilization period; thus, this genus is more conducive to the conversion of NH 4 + -N. Furthermore, as the most abundant genus of NOB, Nitrobacter is suitable for NH 4 + -N removal in wastewater, which has also been confirmed by our previous study (Zhang et al, 2019).…”

“…The relationships between microbial communities were determined based on the distance matrix using the principal coordinates analysis (PCoA). Analysis of environmental factors that had the most effects on the microbial community structure was conducted using the redundancy analysis (RDA) by Canoco software (version 4.5) (Zhang et al, 2019). The impact of each environmental factor on the microorganism was analyzed based on the RDA data using the variation partitioning analysis (VPA) by Canoco.…”

“…This inconsistent result may be primarily related to the highstrength NH 4 + -N at the influent, beneficial to AOB rather than AOA reproduction. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of each type of microorganisms is different and it changes over time, due to the collaborative functions of nitrogen concentration, pH, and temperature (Fierer et al, 2009;Hallin et al, 2009;Fan et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2019). The microbial richness in the upper layer of V4−V5 region was higher than that in the lower layer, which may mainly be due to the aerobic microsites adjacent to plant roots and exudates from rhizomes, where the oxygen released from the Cattail's root into the cathode could promote the growth of microorganisms.…”

“…However, a recent study has shown that AOA, which is ubiquitously distributed in aquatic environments, often has higher abundance than AOB, and its abundance is correlated with nitrification rates (Leininger et al, 2006). On the other hand, oxidation of NO 2 − -N (to NO 3 − -N) depends mainly on NOB (Zhang et al, 2019). The quantitative relationships between ammonia oxidation rate and nitrogen functional genes (AOA and AOB) in TFCW have been analyzed (Li et al, 2015).…”