scholarly journals Combined impact of TiO2 nanoparticles and antibiotics on the activity and bacterial community of partial nitrification system

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0259671
Author(s):  
Han Xu ◽  
Binghua Liu ◽  
Wenyu Qi ◽  
Meng Xu ◽  
Xiaoyu Cui ◽  
...  

The effects of TiO2 nanoparticles (nano-TiO2) together with antibiotics leaking into wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), especially the partial nitrification (PN) process remain unclear. To evaluate the combined impact and mechanisms of nano-TiO2 and antibiotics on PN systems, batch experiments were carried out with six bench-scale sequencing batch reactors. Nano-TiO2 at a low level had minimal effects on the PN system. In combination with tetracycline and erythromycin, the acute impact of antibiotics was enhanced. Both steps of nitrification were retarded due to the decrease of bacterial activity and abundance, while nitrite-oxidizing bacteria were more sensitive to the inhibition than ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Proteobacteria at the phylum level and Nitrosospira at the genus level remained predominant under single and combined impacts. The flow cytometry analysis showed that nano-TiO2 enhanced the toxicity of antibiotics through increasing cell permeability. Our results can help clarify the risks of nano-TiO2 combined with antibiotics to PN systems and explaining the behavior of nanoparticles in WWTPs.

2015 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 564-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Margot ◽  
Samuel Lochmatter ◽  
D. A. Barry ◽  
Christof Holliger

Nitrifying wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are more efficient than non-nitrifying WWTPs to remove several micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals and pesticides. This may be related to the activity of nitrifying organisms, such as ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOBs), which could possibly co-metabolically oxidize micropollutants with their ammonia monooxygenase (AMO). The role of AOBs in micropollutant removal was investigated with aerobic granular sludge (AGS), a promising technology for municipal WWTPs. Two identical laboratory-scale AGS sequencing batch reactors (AGS-SBRs) were operated with or without nitrification (inhibition of AMOs) to assess their potential for micropollutant removal. Of the 36 micropollutants studied at 1 μg l−1 in synthetic wastewater, nine were over 80% removed, but 17 were eliminated by less than 20%. Five substances (bisphenol A, naproxen, irgarol, terbutryn and iohexol) were removed better in the reactor with nitrification, probably due to co-oxidation catalysed by AMOs. However, for the removal of all other micropollutants, AOBs did not seem to play a significant role. Many compounds were better removed in aerobic condition, suggesting that aerobic heterotrophic organisms were involved in the degradation. As the AGS-SBRs did not favour the growth of such organisms, their potential for micropollutant removal appeared to be lower than that of conventional nitrifying WWTPs.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 346
Author(s):  
Keugtae Kim ◽  
Yong-Gyun Park

Conventional biological nutrient removal processes in municipal wastewater treatment plants are energy-consuming, with oxygen supply accounting for 45–75% of the energy expenditure. Many recent studies examined the implications of the anammox process in sidestream wastewater treatment to reduce energy consumption, however, the process did not successfully remove nitrogen in mainstream wastewater treatment with relatively low ammonia concentrations. In this study, blue light was applied as an inhibitor of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) in a photo sequencing batch reactor (PSBR) containing raw wastewater. This simulated a biological nitrogen removal system for the investigation of its application potential in nitrite accumulation and nitrogen removal. It was found that blue light illumination effectively inhibited NOB rather than ammonia-oxidizing bacteria due to their different sensitivity to light, resulting in partial nitrification. It was also observed that the NOB inhibition rates were affected by other operational parameters like mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration and sludge retention time (SRT). According to the obtained results, it was concluded that the process efficiency of partial nitrification and anammox (PN/A) could be significantly enhanced by blue light illumination with appropriate MLSS concentration and SRT conditions.


RSC Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (111) ◽  
pp. 110108-110111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenghui Liu ◽  
Huifang Zhou ◽  
Jiefeng Liu ◽  
Xudong Yin ◽  
Yufeng Mao ◽  
...  

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have been monitored in wastewater treatment plants as their potential adverse effects on functional microorganisms have been causing increasing concern.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9325
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Jaromin-Gleń ◽  
Roman Babko ◽  
Tatiana Kuzmina ◽  
Yaroslav Danko ◽  
Grzegorz Łagód ◽  
...  

Reduction of the greenhouse effect is primarily associated with the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the gases that increases the greenhouse effect - it is responsible for about half of the greenhouse effect. Significant sources of CO2 are wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and waste management, with about 3% contribution to global emissions. CO2 is produced mainly in the aerobic stage of wastewater purification and is a consequence of activated sludge activity. Although the roles of activated sludge components in the purification process have been studied quite well, their quantitative contribution to CO2 emissions is still unknown. The emission of CO2 caused by prokaryotes and eukaryotes over the course of a year (taking into account subsequent seasons) in model sequencing batch reactors (SBR) is presented in this study. In this work, for the first time, we aimed to quantify this contribution of eukaryotic organisms to total CO2 emissions during the WWTP process. It is of the order of several or more ppm. The contribution of CO2 produced by different components of activated sludge in WWTPs can improve estimation of the emissions of GHGs in this area of human activity.


2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 746-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangxue Wu ◽  
Xiaofeng Zhai ◽  
Chengai Jiang ◽  
Yuntao Guan

Denitrifying activities and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission during denitrification can be affected by copper concentrations. Different denitrifiers were acclimated in sequencing batch reactors with acetate or methanol as the electron donor and nitrate as the electron acceptor. The effect of copper concentrations on the denitrifying activity and N2O emission for the acclimated denitrifiers was examined in batch experiments. Denitrifying activities of the acclimated denitrifiers declined with increasing copper concentrations, and the copper concentration exhibited a higher effect on denitrifiers acclimated with acetate than those acclimated with methanol. Compared with the control without the addition of copper, at the copper concentration of 1 mg/L, the acetate utilization rate reduced by 89% for acetate-acclimated denitrifiers, while the methanol utilization rate only reduced by 15% for methanol-acclimated denitrifiers. Copper also had different effects on N2O emission during denitrification carried out by various types of denitrifiers. For the acetate-acclimated denitrifiers, N2O emission initially increased and then decreased with increasing copper concentrations, while for the methanol-acclimated denitrifiers, N2O emission decreased with increasing copper concentrations.


2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (10) ◽  
pp. 2485-2491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Mokhayeri ◽  
R. Riffat ◽  
S. Murthy ◽  
W. Bailey ◽  
I. Takacs ◽  
...  

Facilities across North America are designing plants to meet stringent limit of technology (LOT) treatment for nitrogen removal. In the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, this is in response to the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, which limit effluent total nitrogen discharges from wastewater treatment plants to between 3–5 mg/L. Since denitrification is crucial for the removal of nitrogen, maximizing this process step will result in a decrease in nutrient load to the receiving waters. Of particular interest is the use of an alternate external carbon source to replace the most commonly used carbon, methanol. Three external carbon sources were evaluated in this study including: methanol, ethanol and acetate at 13°C. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relative benefits and constraints for using these three carbon types. Laboratory scale Sequencing Batch Reactors (SBRs) were set up to grow and acclimate carbon free biomass to the specified substrate while in-situ Specific Denitrification Rates (SDNRs) were conducted concurrently. The results suggest that the SDNRs for acetate (31.0 ± 4.6 mgNO3-N/gVSS/hr) and ethanol (29.6 ± 5.6 mgNO3-N/gVSS/hr) are higher than that for methanol (10.1 ± 2.5 mgNO3-N/gVSS/hr). The yield coefficients in g COD/g COD were observed to follow a similar trend with values of 0.45 ± 0.05 for methanol, 0.53 ± 0.06 for ethanol and 0.66 ± 0.06 for acetate.


2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (12) ◽  
pp. 3243-3251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhua Guo ◽  
Shuying Wang ◽  
Huijun Huang ◽  
Yongzhen Peng ◽  
Shijian Ge ◽  
...  

Nitrogen removal via the nitrite pathway has the potential of reducing the requirements for aeration consumption and carbon source. However, the development of an efficient and quick start-up strategy for partial nitrification to nitrite has proven difficult in the treatment of low strength wastewater. In this study, the feasibility of partial nitrification achieved by using real-time aeration duration control was not only demonstrated from the kinetic mechanism, but also was validated in three sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) fed with low C/N domestic wastewater. Nitrite accumulation could be achieved when aeration was terminated as soon as an inflexion pH point was reached (the dpH/dt became from negative to positive). The reduction or limitation of the NOB growth could be achieved through aeration duration control, due to leaving no extra time for NOB to convert the accumulated nitrite. The experimental operation results also showed that partial nitrification with nitrite accumulation ratios of over 80% was achieved successfully in these three reactors with process control. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis indicated the reduction of NOB was achieved and AOB became the dominant nitrifying bacteria. Moreover, an integrated start-up strategy based on aeration duration control was proposed to quickly achieve partial nitrification to nitrite.


2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 493-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Holzem ◽  
C. M. Gardner ◽  
C. K. Gunsch

Abstract Triclosan (TCS) is a broad range antimicrobial agent used in many personal care products, which is commonly discharged to wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs). This study examined the impact of TCS on wastewater treatment performance using laboratory bench-scale sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) coupled with anaerobic digesters. The SBRs were continuously fed synthetic wastewater amended with or without 0.68 μM TCS, with the aim of determining the effect of chronic TCS exposure as opposed to a pulse TCS addition as previously studied. Overall, the present study suggests inhibition of nitrogen removal during reactor startup. However, NH4+ removal fully rebounded after 63 days, suggesting acclimation of the associated microbial communities to TCS. An initial decrease in microbial community diversity was observed in the SBRs fed TCS as compared to the control SBRs, followed by an increase in community diversity, which coincided with the increase in NH4+ removal. Elevated levels of NO3− and NO2− were found in the reactor effluent after day 58, however, suggesting ammonia oxidizing bacteria rebounding more rapidly than nitrogen oxidizing bacteria. Similar effects on treatment efficiencies at actual WWTFs have not been widely observed, suggesting that continuous addition of TCS in their influent may have selected for TCS-resistant nitrogen oxidizing bacteria.


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