Aerobic denitrification is the key process in the elimination of nitrogen from aquaculture wastewater, especially for wastewater with high dissolved oxygen and low carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio. However, a low C/N ratio, especially in low-temperature environments, restricts the activity of aerobic denitrifiers and decreases the nitrogen elimination efficiency. In this study, an iron-based multi-solid carbon source composite that immobilized aerobic denitrifying bacteria ZS1 (IMCSCP) was synthesized to treat aerobic (DO > 5 mg/L), low temperature (<15 °C) and low C/N ratio (C/N = 4) aquaculture wastewater. The results showed that the sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) packed with IMCSCP exhibited the highest nitrogen removal performance, with removal rates of 95.63% and 85.44% for nitrate nitrogen and total nitrogen, respectively, which were 33.03% and 30.75% higher than those in the reactor filled with multi-solid carbon source composite (MCSC). Microbial community and network analysis showed that Pseudomonas furukawaii ZS1 successfully colonized the SBBR filled with IMCSCP, and Exiguobacterium, Cellulomonas and Pseudomonas were essential for the nitrogen elimination. Metagenomic analysis showed that an increase in gene abundance related to carbon metabolism, nitrogen metabolism, extracellular polymer substance synthesis and electron transfer in the IMCSCP, enabling denitrification in the SBBR to be achieved via multiple pathways. The results of this study provided new insights into the microbial removal mechanism of nitrogen in SBBR packed with IMCSCP at low temperatures.
Keywords: Aerobic denitrifier; Aquaculture wastewater; Iron-based multi-carbon source composite; Low temperature; Metagenome; Nitrogen removal.
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