Impacts of organics on the microbial ecology of wastewater anammox processes: Recent advances and meta-analysis

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) represents a promising technology for wastewater nitrogen removal. Organics management is critical to achieving efficient and stable performance of anammox or integrated processes, e.g., denitratation-anammox. The aim of this systematic review is to synthesize the state-of-the-art knowledge on the multifaceted impacts of organics on wastewater anammox community structure and function. Both exogenous and endogenous organics are discussed with respect to their effects on the biofilm/granule structure and function, as well as the interactions between anammox bacteria (AnAOB) and a broad range of coexisting functional groups. A global core community consisting of 19 taxa is identified and a co-occurrence network is constructed by meta-analysis on the 16S rDNA sequences of 149 wastewater anammox samples. Correlations between core taxa, keystone taxa, and environmental factors, including COD, nitrogen loading rate (NLR) and C/N ratio are obtained. This review provides a holistic understanding of the microbial responses to different origins and types of organics in wastewater anammox reactors, which will facilitate the design and operation of more efficient anammox-based wastewater nitrogen removal process. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Organics management is crucial for the efficient and stable performance of anammox or integrated processes like denitratation-anammox. This systematic review synthesizes the state-of-the-art knowledge on the multifaceted impacts of organics on wastewater anammox community structure and function, providing insights for the design and operation of more efficient anammox-based wastewater nitrogen removal processes.