Exploring Community and Kinetic Shifts in Nitrifying
Microbial Communities in Low Dissolved Oxygen Activated Sludge Facilities
for Energy-Efficient Biological Nitrogen Removal
posted on 2024-01-19, 14:35authored byFabrizio Sabba, Eric Redmond, Caitlin Ruff, Monica Ramirez, Mike Young, Min Joon Song, Sukhwan Yoon, Leon Downing
The
discovery of the complete ammonia oxidation process (comammox)
has challenged conventional nitrification theory, showing microbial
adaption to very low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations. This study
aimed at investigating the effects of different DO concentrations
using a series of bioreactors inoculated with biomass from three operationally
diverse water resource recovery facilities. Results show that microbial
populations adapted to low DO environments can maintain high rates
across a range of DO concentrations, indicating their ability to function
well even at high DO concentrations. Additionally, long solids retention
times (>10 days) can encourage the persistence of comammox populations
adapted to different DO concentrations. Molecular analyses revealed
that the low DO-facility had a nitrifying population with similar
ratios of comammox clades A and B, while the high DO facility was
dominated by clade A. Modeling results suggest that the nitrifying
population including comammox bacteria from the low DO facility has
a different half-saturation coefficient for DO (e.g., 0.05 mg L–1) and possible intrapopulation diversity within clades
A and B. This study highlights that a changing nitrification community
can enable the activated sludge process to operate effectively at
low DO concentrations, leading to low-energy biological nitrogen removal.