Recovery and dormancy of nitrogen removal characteristics in the pilot-scale denitrification-partial nitrification-Anammox process for landfill leachate treatment

Xiang Li; Ren-Jie Tao; Meng-Jia Tian; Yan Yuan; Yong Huang; Bo-Lin Li

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113711

Recovery and dormancy of nitrogen removal characteristics in the pilot-scale denitrification-partial nitrification-Anammox process for landfill leachate treatment

J Environ Manage. 2021 Dec 15:300:113711. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113711. Epub 2021 Sep 9.

Authors

Xiang Li¹, Ren-Jie Tao², Meng-Jia Tian², Yan Yuan², Yong Huang³, Bo-Lin Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China; National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Municipal Sewage Resource Utilization Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Technology and Material of Water Treatment, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China. Electronic address: lixiang@mail.usts.edu.cn.
² School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China; National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Municipal Sewage Resource Utilization Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China.
³ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China; National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Municipal Sewage Resource Utilization Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Technology and Material of Water Treatment, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China.
⁴ School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430070, China.

PMID: 34509812
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113711

Abstract

The pilot-scale partial nitrification-anaerobic ammonia oxidation (PN-Anammox) process for landfill leachate treatment has been running stably for 2 years. The degradation characteristics of nitrogen removal performance of PN-Anammox in this system were discussed during shutdown, and different recovery strategies were analyzed from the perspective of economy and easy implementation. The results showed that during the 166 d dormancy period, the decrease in Anammox bacteria activity occurred earlier than that of Anammox bacteria, and both tended to slow down after 128 d. The recovery strategy of simulated wastewater was the fastest, followed by the pretreated landfill leachate recovery strategy with inoculation of some corresponding functional sludges, while the worst strategy was the direct pretreated landfill leachate recovery strategy. The recovery start-up of the pilot-scale PN-Anammox process further showed that microbial activities were difficult to recover simultaneously during operation using raw wastewater directly due to the presence of high NH₄⁺-N levels and the coupling process, which easily led to the accumulation of NH₄⁺-N or NO₂^-N, thereby inhibiting microbial activity. The addition of some functional bacteria was more conducive to the rapid recovery of microbial activity. This study provides a new strategy for the rapid recovery of microbial activity for the engineering application of the PN-Anammox process.

Keywords: Dormancy; Landfill leachate; Partial nitrification-anaerobic ammonia oxidation (PN-Anammox); Pilot-scale; Recovery.

MeSH terms

Bioreactors
Denitrification
Nitrification*
Nitrogen
Oxidation-Reduction
Sewage
Water Pollutants, Chemical*

Substances

Sewage
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Nitrogen