Performance and mechanism of simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in zeolite spheres internal loop airlift reactor

Xiaojing Wen; Donghui Liang; Yongyou Hu; Xiaoqiang Zhu; Guobin Wang; Jieyun Xie

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129073

Performance and mechanism of simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in zeolite spheres internal loop airlift reactor

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Jul:380:129073. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129073. Epub 2023 Apr 21.

Authors

Xiaojing Wen¹, Donghui Liang², Yongyou Hu³, Xiaoqiang Zhu⁴, Guobin Wang⁵, Jieyun Xie⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre, Guangzhou 510006, China; The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre, Guangzhou 510006, China.
² School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre, Guangzhou 510006, China; College of Urban and Rural Construction, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Zhongkai Road, Haizhu District, Guangzhou 510225, China.
³ School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre, Guangzhou 510006, China; The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: ppyyhu@scut.edu.cn.
⁴ The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangzhou Pengkai Environment Technology Co., Ltd, Guangzhou 511493, China.
⁵ Guangzhou Pengkai Environment Technology Co., Ltd, Guangzhou 511493, China.

PMID: 37088431
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129073

Abstract

An internal loop airlift reactor was constructed with zeolite spheres as biofilm carriers (ZS-ALR), and the performance and mechanism of nitrogen removal were investigated. The results indicated that the TN, NH₄⁺-N and TOC removal efficiencies of ZS-ALR reached 96.12%, 100% and 94.54% under appropriate conditions (HRT of 6-8 h, aeration rates of 80-120 mL/min, C/N ratios of 4-6), and the highest TN removal rate constant was 0.01156 min^-1. Further investigating the influence of ammonia-N concentrations on nitrogen removal and biofilm stability revealed that catabolism was important in TN removal, and the prominent genera for nitrogen removal included Sphaerotilus (42.20%), Flavobacterium (17.47%) and Fusibacter (6.14%). Meanwhile, the abundance of amoA, napA, narG and nosZ genes was markedly influenced by ammonia-N concentrations. The nitrogen removal of ZS-ALR was mainly through ammonia-N adsorption by zeolite spheres and simultaneous nitrification and denitrification by biofilm.

Keywords: Adsorption; Internal loop airlift reactor; New bio-packing; Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND); Zeolite.

MeSH terms

Ammonia / metabolism
Biofilms
Bioreactors / microbiology
Denitrification
Nitrification*
Nitrogen
Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods
Zeolites*

Substances

Zeolites
Ammonia
Nitrogen