Nitrogen removal enhancement using lactic acid fermentation products from food waste as external carbon sources: Performance and microbial communities

Jialing Tang; Xiaochang C Wang; Yisong Hu; Yunhui Pu; Jin Huang; Huu Hao Ngo; Yonggang Zeng; Yuyou Li

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2018.02.033

Nitrogen removal enhancement using lactic acid fermentation products from food waste as external carbon sources: Performance and microbial communities

Bioresour Technol. 2018 May:256:259-268. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.02.033. Epub 2018 Feb 8.

Authors

Jialing Tang¹, Xiaochang C Wang², Yisong Hu³, Yunhui Pu¹, Jin Huang¹, Huu Hao Ngo⁴, Yonggang Zeng¹, Yuyou Li⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China.
² Key Lab of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, MOE, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China; International Science & Technology Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, Xi'an 710055, China; Engineering Technology Research Center for Wastewater Treatment and Reuse, Shaanxi Province, China. Electronic address: xcwang@xauat.edu.cn.
³ Key Lab of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, MOE, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China; International Science & Technology Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, Xi'an 710055, China.
⁴ Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁵ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 9808579, Japan.

PMID: 29454277
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.02.033

Abstract

In this study, nitrogen removal using the lactic acid fermentation products from food waste and other external chemical carbon sources (sodium acetate, sodium lactate and starch) was investigated. Similar to sodium acetate and lactate, the lactic acid-enriched fermentation liquid from food waste (FLFW) exhibited a high denitrification rate (5.5 mg NO_x-N/(g-VSS h)) and potential (0.16 g NO₃^--N/g COD), and could achieve high NH₄⁺-N and total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiencies during long-term operation. Using FLFW as supplementary carbon sources reduced the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) content, improved the settleability and achieved a satisfactory biomass yield of activated sludge. Additionally, the increased microbial metabolic activity and bacterial community diversity and the accumulation of unique bacteria in the activated sludge cultured with FLFW further promoted the organics utilization rate and nitrogen removal efficiency, indicating that the FLFW prepared from solid waste was an ideal carbon source for wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Carbon source; Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS); Lactic acid-enriched fermentation liquid from food waste; Microbial community; Nitrogen removal.

MeSH terms

Bioreactors
Carbon
Denitrification*
Fermentation
Lactic Acid*
Nitrogen
Sewage
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Wastewater*

Substances

Sewage
Waste Water
Lactic Acid
Carbon
Nitrogen