Combination of sulfide-driven partial denitrification with anammox enhanced by zeolite powder for autotrophic nitrogen and sulfide removal from wastewater

Chenyang Ma; Wei Zeng; Haohao Miao; Shuangshuang Li; Yongzhen Peng

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.116906

Combination of sulfide-driven partial denitrification with anammox enhanced by zeolite powder for autotrophic nitrogen and sulfide removal from wastewater

Environ Res. 2023 Nov 15;237(Pt 1):116906. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116906. Epub 2023 Aug 16.

Authors

Chenyang Ma¹, Wei Zeng², Haohao Miao¹, Shuangshuang Li¹, Yongzhen Peng¹

Affiliations

¹ National Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Department of Environmental Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China.
² National Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Department of Environmental Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China. Electronic address: zengwei@bjut.edu.cn.

PMID: 37595825
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116906

Abstract

Sulfide-driven partial denitrification and anaerobic ammonia oxidizing (anammox) (SPDA) is a high-efficiency technology to achieve simultaneous nitrogen and sulfide removal. Nitrite accumulation from sulfide-driven partial denitrification is the key to achieve SPDA. Zeolite powder was added to strengthen the competition of anammox bacteria against nitrite. The nitrogen removal rate (NRR) and partial denitrification efficiency in reactor was 5.18 kg-N m^-3d^-1 and 92.3% during 180 days of operation, higher than those without zeolite powder, indicating an improving contribution of zeolite powder. Metabolomics analysis revealed zeolite powder addition enhanced the metabolisms of amino acids, nicotinate and porphyrin through increasing glutamate content, and improved EPS secretion, heme c content and particle size. Besides, high ammonia enriched by zeolite powder was conducive to improve anammox activity and NRR. This study provides the metabolic insights into the mechanism of zeolite powder enhancing SPDA, which is meaningful towards overcoming the limitations in practical application of SDPA.

Keywords: Anaerobic ammonium oxidation; Metabolomics; Partial nitrification; Sulfide; Zeolite powder.