Insight into the short- and long-term effects of inorganic phosphate on anammox granule property

• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.02.097
• Publication Date: 2016-02-28T12:51:12Z
• Authors: Zheng-Zhe Zhang; Jia-Jia Xu; Hai-Yan Hu; Zhi-Jian Shi; Zheng-Quan Ji; Rui Deng; Man-Ling Shi; Ren-Cun Jin
• Keywords: Bacteria, Anaerobic; Bioreactors; Ammonia; Wastewater; Waste Disposal, Fluid; 01 natural sciences; 6. Clean water; Phosphates; Time; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

The short- and long-term effects of inorganic phosphate on property of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) granule were investigated in this study. Acute exposure to high-level phosphate (⩾50 mM) induced the cytoplasm leakage. During a 195-day continuous-flow operation, the gradually increasing phosphate (up to 500 mgP L(-1)) slightly affected the specific anammox activity, hardly impacted the heme c content, remarkably decreased the extracellular polymeric substances production and significantly stimulated the dehydrogenase activity of anammox granules. Microbial community analysis showed no shift in the dominant anammox strain and higher population but lower relative abundance of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria compared to the control granules. Interestingly, novel anammox granules with a hydroxyapatite core were cultivated, which possessed excellent settleability, huge granule diameter and superior mechanical strength. This study supported the application of granule-based anammox process as a pre-processing treatment in phosphate-containing and ammonia-rich wastewaters.