Achieving stable anammox process and revealing shift of bacteria during the start‐up in landfill leachate treatment

• Published in: Water environment research 2023-02, Vol.95 (2), p.e10841-n/a
• Main Authors: Jia, Chunfang, Wu, Lina, Yu, Ke, Hu, Jincheng, Qi, Jiabao Wendy, Luo, Anteng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ammonia; ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria (AOB); Anaerobic Ammonia Oxidation; anaerobic ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria (AnAOB); Bacteria; Bioreactors - microbiology; Denitrification; landfill leachate; Nitrification; Nitrogen; nitrogen removal; Oxidation-Reduction; partial nitrification‐anammox; Sewage; Water Pollutants, Chemical
• ISSN: 1061-4303; 1554-7531
• DOI: 10.1002/wer.10841

Partial nitrification‐anammox (PN/A) is an energy‐efficient technology for nitrogen removal in landfill leachate treatment. Numerous studies have reported successful implementation of the PN/A process and its stable operation under laboratory conditions. One of the primary challenges in PN/A engineering applications is the mass of the seed sludge required for start‐up. This study examined the PN/A using a sequence batch reactor (SBR) inoculating a common mixture to treat landfill leachate. After 70 days of operation, the system successfully realized a one‐stage PN/A process and maintained a stable ammonium NH4+$$ \left({NH}_4^{+}\right) $$ removal efficiency of 97.65% ± 1%, where the effluent of NH4+$$ {NH}_4^{+} $$ and nitrate (NO3−$$ {NO}_3^{-} $$) were less than 4 ± 1.5 mg L−1 and 10 mg L−1. In addition, the relative abundances of Ca. Kuenenia and Ca. Brocadia, which are typical anaerobic ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria (AnAOB), increased from 0.08% to 3.99% (70 days) and 0.01% to 0.45%, respectively. The relative abundances of ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria (AOB) Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira increased from 0.9% to 2.89% and 0.007% to 0.1% (70 days), respectively. Both AnAOB and AOB are important niches of the system. Practitioner Points The research realized PN/A rapidly by inoculating common mixture sludge. The experiment successfully enriched AnAOB from 0.09% to 3.89% within 70 days. The article revealing the ecological roles of AOB and AnAOB in the landfill leachate treatment. It is possible to start‐up anammox process rapidly for mixture of anaerobic and aerobic activated sludge in landfill leachate treatment. Successfully enriched AnAOB from 0.09% to 3.89% within 70 days and ammonium were removed via anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox) coupled with partial‐nitrification process.