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Higher N2O production in sequencing batch reactors compared to continuous stirred tank reactors: effect of feast-famine cycles

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Abstract

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas that can be emitted during the biological treatment of wastewater. In this study, a comparison of the long-term performance characteristics and N2O production of sequencing batch reactors (SBR) and continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTR) during nitrite-based denitrification was undertaken. It was found that both reactors had NO2−-N removal efficiencies over 99.9 %, but the N2O-N emissions from the SBR reached ∼2.3 % of the removal nitrite-N load, while in the CSTR it never exceeded 0.1 %. High frequency sampling during one operation cycle of the SBR demonstrated that the N2O accumulation ratio was ∼0.1 % during the feast period, increased to ∼1.9 % in the first five hours of the famine period, and then gradually reached ∼2.3 % at the end of famine. Batch experiments showed that limiting extracellular electron donor is required for N2O accumulation in cells from the SBR-famine period and that cells from the CSTR do not accumulate N2O when either nitrite or carbon is limiting. Another notable difference in the two reactor communities was the high level of accumulation of intracellular granules, most likely polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), in cells during the feast period in the SBR. Metagenome assembly and binning found that one genome (PRO1), which is a Thauera, accounted for over half the metagenomic reads in both reactors. Neither shifts in gene regulation nor community composition explained the observed differences in reactor performance suggesting some post-transcriptional regulation obligatorily linked to antecedent conditions underly increased N2O production in the SBR.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52170076), the Shanghai Rising-Star Program (China) (No. 20QC1400500), and the State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse (China) (No. PCRRF20024).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Research Center of Industrial Wastewater Detoxication and Resource Recovery, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Xinjie Yan, Xunyu Shen, Jinlong Zhuang, Yu Wang, Jinchi Yao, Yongdi Liu & Wei Li

  2. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Xinjie Yan, Xunyu Shen, Jinlong Zhuang, Yu Wang, Jinchi Yao, Yongdi Liu & Wei Li

  3. School of Environmental and Safety Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213164, China

    Jipeng Wang

  4. Shanghai Huayi Group Co. Ltd., Shanghai, 201108, China

    Hong Liu

  5. Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Yongdi Liu & Wei Li

  6. Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA

    James P. Shapleigh

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  1. Xinjie Yan
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  2. Xunyu Shen
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  4. Jinlong Zhuang
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  7. Hong Liu
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  9. James P. Shapleigh
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  10. Wei Li
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Correspondence to Wei Li.

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Highlights

• N2O emissions from a denitrifying SBR were 23 times higher than that of the CSTR.

• Feast famine conditions in SBR uniquely lead to producing undesirable levels of N2O.

• An MAG closely related to previously identified Thauera is likely a major N2O driver.

• Post-transcriptional regulation may be linked to higher N2O production in SBR.

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11783_2023_1650_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Higher N2O production in sequencing batch reactors compared to continuous stirred tank reactors: effect of feast-famine cycles

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Yan, X., Shen, X., Wang, J. et al. Higher N2O production in sequencing batch reactors compared to continuous stirred tank reactors: effect of feast-famine cycles. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 17, 50 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1650-z

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