Relating the carbon sources to denitrifying community in full-scale wastewater treatment plants

Jinling Chen; Xia Tang; Xuewei Wu; Biping Li; Xia Tang; Xueran Lin; Pengfei Li; Hang Chen; Fu Huang; Xuhan Deng; Xiaojing Xie; Chaohai Wei; Yao Zou; Guanglei Qiu

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142329

Relating the carbon sources to denitrifying community in full-scale wastewater treatment plants

Chemosphere. 2024 May 17:142329. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142329. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jinling Chen¹, Xia Tang², Xuewei Wu², Biping Li², Xia Tang², Xueran Lin², Pengfei Li², Hang Chen¹, Fu Huang¹, Xuhan Deng¹, Xiaojing Xie¹, Chaohai Wei³, Yao Zou⁴, Guanglei Qiu⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
² Guangzhou Sewage Purification Co., Ltd, Guangzhou 510006, China.
³ School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration in Industrial Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, Guangzhou 510006, China.
⁴ School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangdong Society of Environmental Sciences, Guangzhou 510000, China.
⁵ School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration in Industrial Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: qiugl@scut.edu.cn.

PMID: 38763396
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142329

Abstract

Carbon source is a key factor determining the denitrifying effectiveness and efficiency in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Whereas, the relationships between diverse and distinct denitrifying communities and their favorable carbon sources in full-scale WWTPs were not well-understood. This study performed a systematic analysis of the relationships between the denitrifying community and carbon sources by using 15 organic compounds from four categories and activated sludge from 8 full-scale WWTPs. Results showed that, diverse denitrifying bacteria were detected with distinct relative abundances in 8 WWTPs, such as Haliangium (1.98-4.08%), Dechloromonas (2.00-3.01%), Thauera (0.16-1.06%), Zoogloea (0.09-0.43%), and Rhodoferax (0.002-0.104%). Overall, acetate resulted in the highest denitrifying activities (1.21 to 4.62 mg/L/h/gMLSS), followed by other organic acids (propionate, butyrate and lactate, etc.). Detectable dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) was observed for all 15 carbon sources. Methanol and glycerol resulted in the highest DRNA. Acetate, butyrate, and lactate resulted in the lowest DNRA. Redundancy analysis and 16S cDNA amplicon sequencing suggested that carbon sources within the same category tended to correlate to similar denitrifiers. Methanol and ethanol were primarily correlated to Haliangium. Glycerol and amino acids (glutamate and aspartate) were correlated to Inhella and Sphaerotilus. Acetate, propionate, and butyrate were positively correlated to a wide range of denitrifiers, explaining the high efficiency of these carbon sources. Additionally, even within the same genus, different amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) performed distinctly in terms of carbon source preference and denitrifying capabilities. These findings are expected to benefit carbon source formulation and selection in WWTPs.

Keywords: 16S cDNA amplicon sequencing; Carbon sources; Denitrification; Dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA); Haliangium.