Establishing Stable Nitritation in MABR through Aeration Control
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 4
Abstract
Nitrogen removal from municipal wastewater through partial nitritation-denitrification (nitritation) is challenging to accomplish in a membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) due to the reactor configuration, which potentially interferes with nitrite-oxidizing bacteria inhibition. This study investigated the impact of intermittent aeration on the development and sustenance of nitritation in a lab-scale MABR for the treatment of municipal wastewater. The study was accomplished in four phases (Phases I–IV) using a combination of continuous and intermittent aeration modes with aerated and nonaerated cycles of 10 min (5 on/5 off), 20 min (10 on/10 off), and 25 min (10 on/15 off), respectively, and a constant hydraulic retention time of 2.5 h. Biofilm development and stabilization were completed using a continuous aeration condition (Phase I). Nitrite accumulation rate, nitrate production rate, and ammonium nitrogen removal efficiency achieved in Phases II–IV were, 35%, 12%, and 99%; 76%, 3.4%, and 98%; and 94%, 1%, and 98%, respectively. Intermittent aeration significantly improved total inorganic nitrogen removal efficiency by . Between the initiation of intermittent aeration and termination of the study, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria activities within the reactor increased by from 4.53 to volatile suspended solids (VSS). In contrast, nitrite-oxidizing bacteria activities declined by from 1.17 to . The consistent lagging of nitrate production rate behind nitrite accumulation rate, increase in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria activities, and decline in nitrite-oxidizing bacteria activities over the operation period indicates the establishment of nitritation. This study demonstrates that using intermittent aeration, nitritation can be developed and sustained in MABR under mainstream conditions.
Practical Applications
Biological nitrogen removal from municipal wastewater is typically through the conventional activated sludge system using the traditional nitrification and denitrification pathway. However, three major issues abound with this pathway: high aeration energy, external organic carbon requirement, and the potential release of nitrous oxide. An alternative to the aforementioned process is the MABR. MABR is a low-energy technology with potential for pollutants removal through nitritation. Nitritation compares favorably to simultaneous nitrification-denitrification in terms of energy efficiency, sustainability, and operational costs. However, nitrite-oxidizing bacteria activities suppression is required for the successful establishment of nitritation. Studies have suggested that nitrite-oxidizing bacteria activity suppression can be accomplished in biological systems when operated under specific conditions, but although some of these conditions are inherent in some systems, they are absent in mainstream wastewater and MABR. Therefore, establishing nitritation in MABR for the treatment of conventionally collected sewage is challenging. This study recommends using continuous aeration to develop the biofilm and establish stable performance within the MABR, and subsequently switching the aeration mode to predetermined intermittent aeration cycles. This will reduce the dissolved oxygen concentration, suppress nitrite-oxidizing bacteria activities, and stabilize suppressed nitrite-oxidizing bacteria activities within the MABR biofilm.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
All data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge financial support from a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery project, and the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) in Future Water Services (Y. Liu).
References
Akinnawo, S. O. 2023. “Eutrophication: Causes, consequences, physical, chemical and biological techniques for mitigation strategies.” Environ. Challenges 12: 100733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2023.100733.
APHA (American Public Health Association) AWWA (American Water Work Association). 1998. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. 20th ed. Washington, DC: APHA AWWA.
Apprill, A., S. McNally, R. Parsons, and L. Weber. 2015. “Minor revision to V4 region SSU rRNA 806R gene primer greatly increases detection of SAR11 bacterioplankton.” Aquat. Microb. Ecol. 75 (2): 129–137.
Aqeel, H., D. G. Weissbrodt, M. Cerruti, G. M. Wolfaardt, B.-M. Wilén, and S. N. Liss. 2019. “Drivers of bioaggregation from flocs to biofilms and granular sludge.” Environ. Sci. Water Res. Technol. 5 (12): 2072–2089.
Awolusi, O. O., S. K. S. Kumari, and F. Bux. 2015. “Ecophysiology of nitrifying communities in membrane bioreactors.” Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 12 (Mar): 747–762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-014-0551-x.
Bian, X., Y. Wu, J. Li, M. Yin, D. Li, H. Pei, S. Chang, and W. Guo. 2022. “Effect of dissolved oxygen on high C/N wastewater treatment in moving bed biofilm reactors based on heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification: Nitrogen removal performance and potential mechanisms.” Bioresour. Technol. 365 (Dec): 128147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128147.
Bunse, P., L. Orschler, S. Agrawal, and S. Lackner. 2020. “Membrane aerated biofilm reactors for mainstream partial nitritation/anammox: Experiences using real municipal wastewater.” Water Res. X 9 (Dec): 100066. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wroa.2020.100066.
Callahan, B. J., P. J. McMurdie, M. J. Rosen, A. W. Han, A. J. A. Johnson, and S. P. Holmes. 2016. “DADA2: High-resolution sample inference from Illumina amplicon data.” Nat. Methods 13 (7): 581–583. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.3869.
Chen, R., S. Cao, L. Zhang, and Y. Zhou. 2022. “NOB suppression strategies in a mainstream membrane aerated biofilm reactor under exceptionally low lumen pressure.” Chemosphere 290 (Mar): 133386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.133386.
Chen, R., and Y. Zhou. 2021. “Measure microbial activity driven oxygen transfer in membrane aerated biofilm reactor from supply side.” Environ. Res. 195 (Apr): 110845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.110845.
Choi, M., K. Cho, D. Jeong, Y.-C. Chung, J. Park, S. Lee, and H. Bae. 2018. “Effects of the ammonium loading rate on nitrite-oxidizing activity during nitrification at a high dose of inorganic carbon.” J. Environ. Sci. Health., Part A 53 (8): 708–717. https://doi.org/10.1080/10934529.2018.1439854.
Côté, P., J. Peeters, N. Adams, Y. Hong, Z. Long, and J. Ireland. 2015. “A new membrane-aerated biofilm reactor for low energy wastewater treatment: Pilot results.” In Proc., WEFTEC 2015. Alexandria, VA: Water Environment Federation.
Downing, L. S., and R. Nerenberg. 2008. “Effect of bulk liquid BOD concentration on activity and microbial community structure of a nitrifying, membrane-aerated biofilm.” Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 81 (1): 153–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1705-x.
Fitzgerald, C. M., P. Camejo, J. Z. Oshlag, and D. R. Noguera. 2015. “Ammonia-oxidizing microbial communities in reactors with efficient nitrification at low-dissolved oxygen.” Water Res. 70 (Mar): 38–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2014.11.041.
Ge, S., S. Wang, X. Yang, S. Qiu, B. Li, and Y. Peng. 2015. “Detection of nitrifiers and evaluation of partial nitrification for wastewater treatment: A review.” Chemosphere 140 (May): 85–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.02.004.
Gilbert, E. M., S. Agrawal, F. Brunner, T. Schwartz, H. Horn, and S. Lackner. 2014. “Response of different Nitrospira species to anoxic periods depends on operational DO.” Environ. Sci. Technol. 48 (5): 2934–2941. https://doi.org/10.1021/es404992g.
Gilmore, K. R., A. Terada, B. F. Smets, N. G. Love, and J. L. Garland. 2013. “Autotrophic nitrogen removal in a membrane-aerated biofilm reactor under continuous aeration: A demonstration.” Environ. Eng. Sci. 30 (1): 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2012.0222.
He, H., B. M. Wagner, A. L. Carlson, C. Yang, and G. T. Daigger. 2021. “Recent progress using membrane aerated biofilm reactors for wastewater treatment.” Water Sci. Technol. 84 (9): 2131–2157. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2021.443.
Hou, D., D. Jassby, R. Nerenberg, and Z. J. Ren. 2019. “Hydrophobic gas transfer membranes for wastewater treatment and resource recovery.” Environ. Sci. Technol. 53 (20): 11618–11635. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b00902.
Houweling, D., J. Peeters, P. Cote, Z. Long, and N. Adams. 2017. “Proving membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) performance and reliability: Results from four pilots and a full-scale plant.” Proc. Water Environ. Fed. 2017 (16): 272–284. https://doi.org/10.2175/193864717822155786.
Iorhemen, O. T., S. Ukaigwe, H. Dang, and Y. Liu. 2022. “Phosphorus removal from aerobic granular sludge: Proliferation of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) under different feeding strategies.” Processes 10 (7): 1399. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10071399.
Koch, H., S. Lücker, M. Albertsen, K. Kitzinger, C. Herbold, E. Spieck, P. H. Nielsen, M. Wagner, and H. Daims. 2015. “Expanded metabolic versatility of ubiquitous nitrite-oxidizing bacteria from the genus Nitrospira.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 112 (36): 11371–11376. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1506533112.
Kostera, J., M. D. Youngblut, J. M. Slosarczyk, and A. A. Pacheco. 2008. “Kinetic and product distribution analysis of NO·reductase activity in Nitrosomonas europaea hydroxylamine oxidoreductase.” JBIC J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 13 (Mar): 1073–1083. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00775-008-0393-4.
Lackner, S., A. Terada, H. Horn, M. Henze, and B. F. Smets. 2010. “Nitritation performance in membrane-aerated biofilm reactors differs from conventional biofilm systems.” Water Res. 44 (20): 6073–6084. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2010.07.074.
Latocheski, E. C., M. C. V. da Rocha, and M. C. B. Braga. 2022. “Nitrospira in wastewater treatment: Applications, opportunities and research gaps.” Rev. Environ. Sci. Bio/Technol. 21 (4): 905–930. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-022-09634-z.
Li, M., Y. Li, N. Wang, T. Li, H. Guo, Z. Wu, P. Zhang, B. Wang, and B. Li. 2022. “Achieving efficient nitrogen removal in a single-stage partial nitrification-anammox-partial denitrification (PN/A/PD) membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR).” J. Water Process Eng. 49 (Mar): 103100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.103100.
Liu, W., W. Chen, D. Yang, and Y. Shen. 2019a. “Functional and compositional characteristics of nitrifiers reveal the failure of achieving mainstream nitritation under limited oxygen or ammonia conditions.” Bioresour. Technol. 275 (Apr): 272–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2018.12.065.
Liu, W., Q. Yang, B. Ma, J. Li, L. Ma, S. Wang, and Y. Peng. 2017. “Rapid achievement of nitritation using aerobic starvation.” Environ. Sci. Technol. 51 (7): 4001–4008. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b04598.
Liu, X., M. Kim, G. Nakhla, M. Andalib, and Y. Fang. 2020. “Partial nitrification-reactor configurations, and operational conditions: Performance analysis.” J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 8 (4): 103984. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2020.103984.
Liu, Y., H. H. Ngo, W. Guo, L. Peng, D. Wang, and B. Ni. 2019b. “The roles of free ammonia (FA) in biological wastewater treatment processes: A review.” Environ. Int. 123 (Feb): 10–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.11.039.
Ma, Y., C. Domingo-Felez, B. G. Plósz, and B. F. Smets. 2017. “Intermittent aeration suppresses nitrite-oxidizing bacteria in membrane-aerated biofilms: A model-based explanation.” Environ. Sci. Technol. 51 (11): 6146–6155. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b00463.
Ma, Y., A. Piscedda, A. D. L. C. Veras, C. Domingo-Félez, and B. F. Smets. 2022. “Intermittent aeration to regulate microbial activities in membrane-aerated biofilm reactors: Energy-efficient nitrogen removal and low nitrous oxide emission.” Chem. Eng. J. 433 (Apr): 133630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2021.133630.
McDonald, D., M. N. Price, J. Goodrich, E. P. Nawrocki, T. Z. DeSantis, A. Probst, G. L. Andersen, R. Knight, and P. Hugenholtz. 2012. “An improved Greengenes taxonomy with explicit ranks for ecological and evolutionary analyses of bacteria and archaea.” ISME J. 6 (3): 610–618. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2011.139.
Mehrabi, S., D. Houweling, and M. Dagnew. 2020. “Establishing mainstream nitrite shunt process in membrane aerated biofilm reactors: Impact of organic carbon and biofilm scouring intensity.” J. Water Process Eng. 37 (Oct): 101460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101460.
Miao, Y., L. Zhang, Y. Yang, Y. Peng, B. Li, S. Wang, and Q. Zhang. 2016. “Start-up of single-stage partial nitrification-anammox process treating low-strength swage and its restoration from nitrate accumulation.” Bioresour. Technol. 218 (Oct): 771–779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2016.06.125.
Mota, C., J. Ridenoure, J. Cheng, and F. L. de los Reyes III. 2005. “High levels of nitrifying bacteria in intermittently aerated reactors treating high ammonia wastewater.” FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 54 (3): 391–400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.femsec.2005.05.001.
Park, S., W. Bae, and B. E. Rittmann. 2010. “Operational boundaries for nitrite accumulation in nitrification based on minimum/maximum substrate concentrations that include effects of oxygen limitation, pH, and free ammonia and free nitrous acid inhibition.” Environ. Sci. Technol. 44 (1): 335–342. https://doi.org/10.1021/es9024244.
Park, S., J. Chung, B. E. Rittmann, and W. Bae. 2015. “Nitrite accumulation from simultaneous free-ammonia and free-nitrous-acid inhibition and oxygen limitation in a continuous-flow biofilm reactor.” Biotechnol. Bioeng. 112 (1): 43–52. https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.25326.
Pathak, S., S. Wang, and E. Janka. 2022. “Achieving partial nitritation in anammox start-up environment.” Water 14 (2): 229. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020229.
Pellicer-Nàcher, C., S. Franck, A. Gülay, M. Ruscalleda, A. Terada, W. A. Al-Soud, M. A. Hansen, S. J. Sørensen, and B. F. Smets. 2014. “Sequentially aerated membrane biofilm reactors for autotrophic nitrogen removal: Microbial community composition and dynamics.” Microb. Biotechnol. 7 (1): 32–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.12079.
Pellicer-Nàcher, C., S. Sun, S. Lackner, A. Terada, F. Schreiber, Q. Zhou, and B. F. Smets. 2010. “Sequential aeration of membrane-aerated biofilm reactors for high-rate autotrophic nitrogen removal: Experimental demonstration.” Environ. Sci. Technol. 44 (19): 7628–7634. https://doi.org/10.1021/es1013467.
Peng, Y., and G. Zhu. 2006. “Biological nitrogen removal with nitrification and denitrification via nitrite pathway.” Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 73 (Nov): 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-006-0534-z.
Preisner, M. 2020. “Surface water pollution by untreated municipal wastewater discharge due to a sewer failure.” Environ. Processes 7 (3): 767–780. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-020-00452-5.
Preisner, M., E. Neverova-Dziopak, and Z. Kowalewski. 2021. “Mitigation of eutrophication caused by wastewater discharge: A simulation-based approach.” AMBIO 50 (2): 413–424. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01346-4.
Ravishankar, H., A. Nemeth, G. Massons, D. Puig, D. Zardoya, N. Carpi, P. N. Lens, and B. Heffernan. 2022. “Factors impacting simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in a membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) system treating municipal wastewater.” J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 10 (5): 108120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2022.108120.
Regmi, P., M. W. Miller, B. Holgate, R. Bunce, H. Park, K. Chandran, B. Wett, S. Murthy, and C. B. Bott. 2014. “Control of aeration, aerobic SRT and COD input for mainstream nitritation/denitritation.” Water Res. 57 (Jun): 162–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2014.03.035.
Sanchez-Huerta, C., L. Fortunato, T. Leiknes, and P.-Y. Hong. 2022. “Influence of biofilm thickness on the removal of thirteen different organic micropollutants via a membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR).” J. Hazard. Mater. 432 (Jun): 128698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.128698.
Schramm, A., D. De Beer, A. Gieseke, and R. Amann. 2000. “Microenvironments and distribution of nitrifying bacteria in a membrane-bound biofilm.” Environ. Microbiol. 2 (6): 680–686. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1462-2920.2000.00150.x.
Sharif Shourjeh, M., P. Kowal, X. Lu, L. Xie, and J. Drewnowski. 2021. “Development of strategies for AOB and NOB competition supported by mathematical modeling in terms of successful deammonification implementation for energy-efficient WWTPs.” Processes 9 (3): 562. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9030562.
Sliekers, A. O., S. C. Haaijer, M. H. Stafsnes, J. G. Kuenen, and M. S. Jetten. 2005. “Competition and coexistence of aerobic ammonium-and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria at low oxygen concentrations.” Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 68 (Mar): 808–817. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-005-1974-6.
Spieck, E., S. Keuter, T. Wenzel, E. Bock, and W. Ludwig. 2014. “Characterization of a new marine nitrite oxidizing bacterium, Nitrospina watsonii sp. nov., a member of the newly proposed phylum ‘Nitrospinae’.” Syst. Appl. Microbiol. 37 (3): 170–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.syapm.2013.12.005.
Suarez, C., M. Piculell, O. Modin, S. Langenheder, F. Persson, and M. Hermansson. 2019. “Thickness determines microbial community structure and function in nitrifying biofilms via deterministic assembly.” Sci. Rep. 9 (1): 5110. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-41542-1.
Terada, A., T. Yamamoto, R. Igarashi, S. Tsuneda, and A. Hirata. 2006. “Feasibility of a membrane-aerated biofilm reactor to achieve controllable nitrification.” Biochem. Eng. J. 28 (2): 123–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2005.10.001.
Tian, H., M. Hui, P. Pan, J. Huang, L. Chen, and J. Zhao. 2021. “Performance and microbial ecology of biofilms adhering on aerated membrane with distinctive conditions for the treatment of domestic sewage.” Environ. Technol. 42 (3): 459–467. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593330.2019.1631890.
Ukaigwe, S., Y. Zhou, M. Shaheen, and Y. Liu. 2021. “Municipal wastewater treatment using a membrane aerated biofilm reactor.” J. Environ. Eng. Sci. 17 (2): 99–107. https://doi.org/10.1680/jenes.21.00025.
Wang, B., S. Liu, X. Yao, Y. Liu, and G. Qi. 2022. “Alternating aeration strategy to reduce aeration energy demand for aerobic granular sludge and analysis of microbial community dynamics.” Environ. Sci. Water Res. Technol. 8 (5): 1111–1125.
Wang, H., G. Xu, Z. Qiu, Y. Zhou, and Y. Liu. 2019. “NOB suppression in pilot-scale mainstream nitritation-denitritation system coupled with MBR for municipal wastewater treatment.” Chemosphere 216 (Feb): 633–639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.10.187.
Wang, J., J. Liang, L. Sun, J. Shen, and M. Wang. 2021. “Achieving reliable partial nitrification and anammox process using polyvinyl alcohol gel beads to treat low-strength ammonia wastewater.” Bioresour. Technol. 324 (Mar): 124669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2021.124669.
Wang, R., A. Terada, S. Lackner, B. F. Smets, M. Henze, S. Xia, and J. Zhao. 2009. “Nitritation performance and biofilm development of co-and counter-diffusion biofilm reactors: Modeling and experimental comparison.” Water Res. 43 (10): 2699–2709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2009.03.017.
Werner, J. J., O. Koren, P. Hugenholtz, T. Z. DeSantis, W. A. Walters, J. G. Caporaso, L. T. Angenent, R. Knight, and R. E. Ley. 2012. “Impact of training sets on classification of high-throughput bacterial 16s rRNA gene surveys.” ISME J. 6 (1): 94–103. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2011.82.
Wett, B., A. Omari, S. Podmirseg, M. Han, O. Akintayo, M. Gómez Brandón, S. Murthy, C. Bott, M. Hell, and I. Takács. 2013. “Going for mainstream deammonification from bench to full scale for maximized resource efficiency.” Water Sci. Technol. 68 (2): 283–289. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2013.150.
Yang, Q., Y. Peng, X. Liu, W. Zeng, T. Mino, and H. Satoh. 2007. “Nitrogen removal via nitrite from municipal wastewater at low temperatures using real-time control to optimize nitrifying communities.” Environ. Sci. Technol. 41 (23): 8159–8164. https://doi.org/10.1021/es070850f.
Yim, M.-S., Y. C. Yau, A. Matlow, J.-S. So, J. Zou, C. A. Flemming, H. Schraft, and K. T. Leung. 2010. “A novel selective growth medium-PCR assay to isolate and detect Sphingomonas in environmental samples.” J. Microbiol. Methods 82 (1): 19–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mimet.2010.03.012.
Zhang, L.-Q., X. Jiang, H.-W. Rong, C.-H. Wei, M. Luo, W.-C. Ma, and H.-Y. Ng. 2022. “Exploring the carbon and nitrogen removal capacity of a membrane aerated biofilm reactor for low-strength municipal wastewater treatment.” Environ. Sci. Water Res. Technol. 8 (2): 280–289.
Zhao, H., Y. Guo, Q. Wang, Z. Zhang, C. Wu, M. Gao, and F. Liu. 2022. “The summary of nitritation process in mainstream wastewater treatment.” Sustainability 14 (24): 16453. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416453.
Zhou, Y., R. Li, B. Guo, L. Zhang, X. Zou, S. Xia, and Y. Liu. 2020. “Greywater treatment using an oxygen-based membrane biofilm reactor: Formation of dynamic multifunctional biofilm for organics and nitrogen removal.” Chem. Eng. J. 386 (Apr): 123989. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.123989.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 150 • Issue 4 • April 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 28, 2023
Accepted: Nov 3, 2023
Published online: Jan 29, 2024
Published in print: Apr 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jun 29, 2024
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.