Anaerobic ammonium oxidation in a bioreactor treating slaughterhouse wastewater

Abstract

Ammonium oxidation was thought to be an exclusively aerobic process; however, as recently described in the literature, it is also possible under anaerobic conditions and this process was named ANAMMOX. This work describes the operation of a system consisting of a denitrifying reactor coupled to a nitrifying reactor used for removal of nitrogen from slaughterhouse wastewater. During operation of the denitrifying reactor an average nitrogen ammonium removal rate of 50 mg/Ld was observed. This biomass was used to seed a second reactor, operated in repeated fed batch mode, fed with synthetic medium specific to the growth of bacteria responsible for the ANAMMOX process. The nitrogen loading rate varied between 33 and 67 mgN/Ld and average nitrogen removal was 95% and 40%, respectively. Results of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) confirmed the presence of anammox-like microorganisms in the enriched biomass.