Food waste hydrolysate as a carbon source to improve nitrogen removal performance of high ammonium and high salt wastewater in a sequencing batch reactor

• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.126855
• Publication Date: 2022-02-14T17:00:48Z
• Authors: Mingjiang Zhang; Xiaomeng Wang; Dejin Zhang; Guangliang Zhao; Bo Zhou; Dianzhan Wang; Zhenjiang Wu; Cheng Yan; Jianru Liang; Lixiang Zhou
• Keywords: Sewage; Nitrogen; Wastewater; Waste Disposal, Fluid; 01 natural sciences; Carbon; 6. Clean water; Refuse Disposal; 12. Responsible consumption; Bioreactors; Food; 13. Climate action; Ammonium Compounds; 11. Sustainability; Denitrification; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

The high ammonium and high salt (HAHS) wastewater generated from the anaerobic digestate of food waste is usually difficult to be treated by biological process because of its low C/N ratio. Herein, food waste hydrolysate (FWH) is rich in readily biodegradable organic matter, was utilized as carbon source to enhance the nitrogen removal of HAHS in the activated-sludge system. Results showed that compared with the control average total nitrogen removal efficiency increased from 73.4% to 94.9% and effluent declined from 281.4 mg/L to 53.9 mg/L by adding FWH at the C/N ratio of 6, satisfying the sewage discharge standard regulated by China. Besides, FWH utilization led to higher selectivity of the species responsible for nitrogen removal in related to glucose-adding group, which were dominated by Flavobacteriaceae, Melioribacteraceae, PHOS-HE36, and Rhodobacteraceae after a long-term operation. In general, FWH is an alternative carbon source to enhance nitrogen removal in HAHS wastewater treatment.