Endogenous partial denitritation as an efficient remediation to unstable partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) process: Bacteria enrichment and superior robustness

The application of partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) process suffers severe obstacles due to the instability of partial nitritation (PN) process. This study sought to evaluate the feasibility of endogenous partial denitratation (EPD) as a remediation or alternative to supply nitrite for the unstable PNA process. A novel strategy of optimal organics utilization through pre-anaerobic carbon storage and post-anoxic endogenous denitrification coupled with anammox was developed in a single-stage bioreactor treating actual municipal wastewater with low C/N (similar to 3.2). Specifically, the undesired NO2-/NH4+ ratio (2.4 to 0.04) and nitrate accumulation were obtained by increasing the aeration rate (0.6 to 1.8 L/min) to simulate the PN instability. Delightedly, advanced nitrogen removal efficiency (92.1%) was maintained despite a dramatic decrease in nitrite accumulation ratio from 97.6% to 2.6%. This was attributed to the significant increase in anammox contribution to total nitrogen removal from 30.2% to 80.5%. The steady nitrite flux supplied from EPD coupled with PN (EPD contribution increased from 0 to 97.0%) was assumed to be the main reason for the continually increasing abundance and bioactivity of anammox bacteria. Both the anammox bacteria (1.5%, Ca. Brocadia) and glycogen accumulating organisms (6.0%, responsible for EPD) were enriched and coexisted stably in the single reactor. Our study confirms that coupling EPD with anammox has great potential as a remediation for the unstable mainstream PNA process.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the feasibility of using endogenous partial denitratation (EPD) as a solution for the instability of the partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) process. By increasing the aeration rate to simulate the instability, the undesired NO2-/NH4+ ratio and nitrate accumulation were obtained. However, a high nitrogen removal efficiency was maintained due to the significant increase in anammox contribution. Coupling EPD with anammox has great potential as a remediation strategy for the unstable mainstream PNA process.