Roles of red mud-based biochar carriers in the recovery of anammox activity: characteristics and mechanisms

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2024-03, Vol.31 (13), p.20488-20498
• Main Authors: Qin, Yongli, Wei, Qiaoyan, Chen, Ruihong, Jiang, Zhicheng, Qiu, Yuchen, Jiang, Yongrong, Li, Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ammonia; Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria; Ammonium; anaerobic ammonium oxidation; Anaerobic bacteria; Anaerobic processes; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bacteria; biochar; biochemical pathways; Charcoal; Deactivation; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Extracellular polymers; Granulation; Low temperature; nitrogen; Nitrogen removal; Oxidation; Planctomycetota; polymers; Reactors; Recovery; Red mud; Research Article; secretion; Sludge; starvation; temperature; Waste Water Technology; wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Water Management; Water Pollution Control
• ISSN: 1614-7499; 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-32263-8

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) sludge is easily deactivated in the process of treating ammonia-laden wastewater. To investigate an effective recovery method, red mud-based biochar carriers (RMBC) were prepared and added to a deactivated anammox reactor; the operation of this reactor had been interrupted for 6 months with starvation and low temperature. The deactivated sludge with added RMBC was recovered rapidly after 31 days, with the specific anammox activity rapidly increasing to 0.84 g N/(g VSS∙day), and the recovery efficiency of nitrogen removal rate increased by four times compared to the unadded control. The granulation degree and extracellular polymeric substances secretion of the anammox sludge with the added RMBC were significantly higher than that of the control group. In addition, a large number of spherical anammox bacteria were observed moored at the porous channels of RMBC, and the copy numbers of functional genes of anammox bacteria were approximately twice that of the control group. Hence, RMBC is a potential sludge activator, and it can provide a “house” to protect anammox bacteria, enhance the metabolic activity and the agglomerative growth of anammox bacteria, and synergistically achieve rapid recovery of deactivated anammox sludge.