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Field application of nitrogen and phenylacetylene to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from landfill cover soils: effects on microbial community structure

  • Environmental Biotechnology
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Abstract

Landfills are large sources of CH4, but a considerable amount of CH4 can be removed in situ by methanotrophs if their activity can be stimulated through the addition of nitrogen. Nitrogen can, however, lead to increased N2O production. To examine the effects of nitrogen and a selective inhibitor on CH4 oxidation and N2O production in situ, 0.5 M of NH4Cl and 0.25 M of KNO3, with and without 0.01% (w/v) phenylacetylene, were applied to test plots at a landfill in Kalamazoo, MI from 2007 November to 2009 July. Nitrogen amendments stimulated N2O production but had no effect on CH4 oxidation. The addition of phenylacetylene stimulated CH4 oxidation while reducing N2O production. Methanotrophs possessing particulate methane monooxygenase and archaeal ammonia-oxidizers (AOAs) were abundant. The addition of nitrogen reduced methanotrophic diversity, particularly for type I methanotrophs. The simultaneous addition of phenylacetylene increased methanotrophic diversity and the presence of type I methanotrophs. Clone libraries of the archaeal amoA gene showed that the addition of nitrogen increased AOAs affiliated with Crenarchaeal group 1.1b, while they decreased with the simultaneous addition of phenylacetylene. These results suggest that the addition of phenylacetylene with nitrogen reduces N2O production by selectively inhibiting AOAs and/or type II methanotrophs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the field sampling and analyses contributions of Peter Stuurwold and William Lizik (Western Michigan University). The provision of an archaeal amoA clone from Dr. Craig S. Criddle is also gratefully acknowledged. This project was supported by the Department of Energy (DE-FC26-05NT42431).

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Author notes

  1. Sung-Woo Lee

    Present address: Oregon Graduate Institute, Department of Environmental & Biomolecular Systems, Oregon Health and Sciences University, 20000 NW Walker Road, Beaverton, OR, 97006, USA

  2. Levente Bodrossy

    Present address: CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, GPO box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 7001

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Michigan, 1351 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2125, USA

    Jeongdae Im, Sung-Woo Lee & Jeremy D. Semrau

  2. Department of Biotechnology, ARC Seibersdorf Research GmbH, Seibersdorf, 2444, Austria

    Levente Bodrossy

  3. Department of Chemistry, Western Michigan University, 1903 W. Michigan, Kalamazoo, MI, 49008-5413, USA

    Michael J. Barcelona

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  1. Jeongdae Im
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Correspondence to Jeremy D. Semrau.

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Supplementary Figure S1

Rarefaction analyses of amoA genes from ammonia-oxidizing archaea. OTUs were defined as those with ≥97% nucleotide sequence identity. Error bars represent 95% confidence limits. (GIF 163 kb)

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Im, J., Lee, SW., Bodrossy, L. et al. Field application of nitrogen and phenylacetylene to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from landfill cover soils: effects on microbial community structure. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 89, 189–200 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2811-0

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