Aerobic Methane Oxidation Coupled to Denitrification: Kinetics and Effect of Oxygen Supply
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 2
Abstract
Aerobic methane oxidation coupled to denitrification (AME-D) is a process in which aerobic methanotrophs oxidize methane and release organic compounds that are used by coexisting denitrifiers as electron donors for denitrification. This process is potentially promising for denitrification of wastewater or landfill leachate poor in organic carbon using methane produced onsite as external electron donor. We studied the kinetics of an aerobic methane-oxidizing denitrifying culture and investigated the effect of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration and air supply rate on AME-D using a batch reactor and a semicontinuous reactor setup. At methane concentrations of 18–33% in air and air flow rates of , the DO concentration was less than and the nitrate removal reached a maximum value of with 79% being attributed to denitrification. When the air supply rate was increased to resulting in a drop in methane content to 10%, the DO concentration in the bioreactor rose to about and the total nitrate removal dropped to about with none of it being attributed to denitrification.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
A part of this research was financially supported by UNSPECIFIEDMEXT through Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology (Project name: IR3S). O. M. was supported by MEXT through the Monbukagakusho scholarship.
References
APHA, AWWA, and WEF. (1998). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 20th Ed., American Public Health Association/American Water Works Association/Water Environment Federation, Washington, D.C.
Arcangeli, J. P., and Arvin, E. (1999). “Modelling the growth of a methanotrophic biofilm: Estimation of parameters and variability.” Biodegradation, 10, 177–191.
Costa, C., Dijkema, C., Friedrich, M., Garcia-Encina, P., Fernandez-Polanco, F., and Stams, A. J. M. (2000). “Denitrification with methane as electron donor in oxygen-limited bioreactors.” Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 53, 754–761.
Eisentraeger, A., Klag, P., Vansbotter, B., Heymann, E., and Dott, W. (2001). “Denitrification of groundwater with methane as sole hydrogen donor.” Water Res., 35(9), 2261–2267.
Ettwig, K. F., et al. (2008). “Denitrifying bacteria anaerobically oxidize methane in the absence of Archaea.” Environ. Microbiol., 10(11), 3164–3173.
Hanson, R. S., and Hanson, T. E. (1996). “Methanotrophic bacteria.” Microbiol. Rev., 60(2), 439–471.
Her, J. -J., and Huang, J. -S. (1995). “Influences of carbon source and C/N ratio on nitrate/nitrite denitrification and carbon breakthrough.” Bioresour. Technol., 54, 45–51.
Houbron, E., Torrijos, M., and Capdeville, B. (1999). “An alternative use of biogas applied at the water denitrification.” Water Sci. Technol., 40(8), 115–122.
Islas-Lima, S., Thalasso, F., and Gomez-Hernandez, J. (2004). “Evidence of anoxic methane oxidation coupled to denitrification.” Water Res., 38, 13–16.
Kjeldsen, P., Barlaz, M. A., Rooker, A. P., Baun, A., Ledin, A., and Christensen, T. H. (2002). “Present and long term composition of MSW landfill leachate: A review.” Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol., 32(4), 297–336.
Knowles, R. (2005). “Denitrifiers associated with methanotrophs and their potential impact on the nitrogen cycle.” Ecol. Eng., 24, 441–446.
Lie, E., and Welander, T. (1994). “Influence of dissolved oxygen and oxidation-reduction potential on the denitrification rate of activated sludge.” Water Sci. Technol., 30(6), 91–100.
Mason, I. (1977). “Methane as carbon source in biological denitrification.” Water Environ. Res., 49, 855–857.
Meschner, K. L., and Hamer, G. (1985). “Denitrification by methanotrophic/metylotrophic bacterial associations in aquatic environments.” Denitrification in the nitrogen cycle, H. L. Golterman, ed., Plenum, New York, 257–271.
Metcalf and Eddy, Tchobanoglous, G., and Burton, F. L. (1991). Wastewater engineering: Treatment, disposal, and reuse, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Modin, O., Fukushi, K., and Yamamoto, K. (2007). “Denitrification with methane as external carbon source.” Water Res., 41, 2726–2738.
Morris, B. L., Lawrence, A. R. L., Chilton, P. J. C., Adams, B., Calow, R. C., and Klinck, B. A. (2003). “Groundwater and its susceptibility to degradation: A global assessment of the problem and options for management.” Early Warning and Assessment Rep. No. 03-3, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya.
Raghoebarsing, A. A., et al. (2006). “A microbial consortium couples anaerobic methane oxidation to denitrification.” Nature, 440, 918–921.
Ren, T., Roy, R., and Knowles, R. (2000). “Production and consumption of nitric oxide by three methanotrophic bacteria.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 66(9), 3891–3897.
Rhee, G. Y., and Fuhs, G. W. (1978). “Wastewater denitrification with one-carbon compounds as energy source.” Water Environ. Res., 50(9), 2111–2119.
Strand, S. E., Bjelland, M. D., and Stensel, H. D. (1990). “Kinetics of chlorinated hydrocarbon degradation by suspended cultures of methane-oxidizing bacteria.” Water Environ. Res., 62(2), 124–129.
Thalasso, F., Vallecillo, A., Garcia-Encina, P., and Fdz-Polanco, F. (1997). “The use of methane as a sole carbon source for wastewater denitrification.” Water Res., 31(1), 55–60.
Werner, M., and Kayser, R. (1991). “Denitrification with biogas as external carbon source.” Water Sci. Technol., 23, 701–708.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 2 • February 2010
Pages: 211 - 219
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 17, 2008
Accepted: Jul 24, 2009
Published online: Aug 12, 2009
Published in print: Feb 2010
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.