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Salinity effect on simultaneous nitrification and denitrification, microbial characteristics in a hybrid sequencing batch biofilm reactor

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Abstract

The effect of increasing salinity on nitrogen removal via simultaneous nitrification and denitrification, microbial activities and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were investigated in a hybrid sequencing batch biofilm reactor filled with soft combination carriers. In the influent salinity range from 1.0 to 2.0%, average COD, NH4 +-N and TN removal efficiencies were higher than 97.1, 97.8 and 86.4% at the steady state. When salinity was increased to 2.5 and 3.0%, ammonium oxidation was obviously inhibited in the reactor. For both suspended sludge (S-sludge) and biofilm, specific ammonium oxidation rate, specific nitrite oxidation rate, specific oxygen uptake rate and dehydrogenase activity reduced with the increase of salinity. The quantity of total EPS increased with the increase of salinity from 1.0 to 2.0%. Generally, humic substances were the dominant composition of EPS in both S-sludge and biofilm, with the percentages of 43.9–54.0 and 43.8–64.6% in total EPS.

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Acknowledgements

The work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 51178437) and the Special Grand National Science & Technology Project of China for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (no. 2014ZX07203-008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Marine Environment and Ecology, Ocean University of China, Ministry of Education, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Zonglian She, Lan Wu, Qun Wang, Mengchun Gao, Chunji Jin, Yangguo Zhao, Linting Zhao & Liang Guo

  2. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Zonglian She, Mengchun Gao, Chunji Jin, Yangguo Zhao & Liang Guo

  3. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Geological Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Zonglian She

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  1. Zonglian She
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  2. Lan Wu
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  3. Qun Wang
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Correspondence to Liang Guo.

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She, Z., Wu, L., Wang, Q. et al. Salinity effect on simultaneous nitrification and denitrification, microbial characteristics in a hybrid sequencing batch biofilm reactor. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 41, 65–75 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-017-1844-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-017-1844-5

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