Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the abundance, distribution and activity of aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and anammox in size fractionated aggregates from full-scale suspended growth combined nitritation-anammox sidestream reactors. Plants with or without a cyclone device were also studied to assess a purported enrichment of anammox granules. Specific aerobic ammonium oxidation rates (p = 0.01) and specific oxygen uptake rates (p = 0.02) were significantly greater in flocs than in granules. AOB abundance measured using quantitative FISH was significantly higher in flocs than in granules (p = 0.01). Conversely, anammox abundance was significantly greater in granules (p = 0.03). The average ratio of anammox/AOB in systems employing hydrocyclone separation devices was 2.4, significantly higher (p = 0.02) than the average ratio (0.5) in a system without a hydrocyclone. Our results demonstrate substantial functional and population-level segregation between floccular and granular fractions, and provide a key corroboration that cyclone separation devices can increase anammox levels in such systems.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 38-45 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Bioresource Technology |
| Volume | 218 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 1 2016 |
Funding
This work was financially supported by the State-Sponsored Scholarship Program from the China Scholarship Council . G. W. was supported by the US National Science Foundation under IRFP Grant No. 1064615 and by an Eawag Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Keywords
- AOB
- Anammox
- Flocs
- Granular sludge
- Hydrocyclone
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Bioengineering
- Environmental Engineering
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Waste Management and Disposal
