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Nitrogen removal and microbial community shift in an aerobic denitrification reactor bioaugmented with a Pseudomonas strain for coal-based ethylene glycol industry wastewater treatment

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Abstract

An aerobic denitrification system, initially bioaugmented with Pseudomonas strain T13, was established to treat coal-based ethylene glycol industry wastewater, which contained 3219 ± 86 mg/L total nitrogen (TN) and 1978 ± 14 mg/L NO3 −-N. In the current study, a stable denitrification efficiency of 53.7 ± 4.7% and nitrite removal efficiency of 40.1 ± 2.7% were achieved at different diluted influent concentrations. Toxicity evaluation showed that a lower toxicity of effluent was achieved when industry wastewater was treated by stuffing biofilm communities compared to suspended communities. Relatively high TN removal (~50%) and chemical oxygen demand removal percentages (>65%) were obtained when the influent concentration was controlled at below 50% of the raw industry wastewater. However, a further increased concentration led to a 20–30% decrease in nitrate and nitrite removal. Microbial network evaluation showed that a reduction in Pseudomonas abundance was induced during the succession of the microbial community. The napA gene analysis indicated that the decrease in nitrate and nitrite removal happened when abundance of Pseudomonas was reduced to less than 10% of the overall stuffing biofilm communities. Meanwhile, other denitrifying bacteria, such as Paracoccus, Brevundimonas, and Brucella, were subsequently enriched through symbiosis in the whole microbial network.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51178139) and Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, China (HC201526-01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (SKLUWRE, HIT), Harbin, 150090, China

    Cong Du, Chong-Wei Cui, Shan Qiu, Ang Li & Fang Ma

  2. School of Life Science, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China

    Sheng-Nan Shi

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  1. Cong Du
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  2. Chong-Wei Cui
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  3. Shan Qiu
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  4. Sheng-Nan Shi
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  5. Ang Li
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  6. Fang Ma
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Correspondence to Chong-Wei Cui or Fang Ma.

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Du, C., Cui, CW., Qiu, S. et al. Nitrogen removal and microbial community shift in an aerobic denitrification reactor bioaugmented with a Pseudomonas strain for coal-based ethylene glycol industry wastewater treatment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 11435–11445 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8824-9

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