Application of alkali-heated corncobs enhanced nitrogen removal and microbial diversity in constructed wetlands for treating low C/N ratio wastewater

Abstract Lack of carbon source is the main factor limiting denitrification of low C/N ratio wastewater in constructed wetlands (CWs). Agricultural waste has been considered as a supplementary carbon source but research is still limited. To solve this problem, ferric carbon (Fe-C) + zeolite, Fe-C + gravel and gravel were used as substrates to build CWs in this experiment, aiming to investigate the effects of different carbon sources (rice straw, corncobs, alkali-heated corncobs) on nitrogen removal performance and microbial community structure in CWs for low C/N wastewater. The results demonstrated that the microbial community and effluent nitrogen concentration of CWs were mainly influenced by the carbon source rather than the substrate. Alkali-heated corncobs significantly enhanced the removal of NO2−-N, NH4+-N, NO3−-N and TN. Carbon sources addition increased microbial diversity. Alkali-heated corncobs addition significantly increased the abundance of heterotrophic denitrifying bacteria (Proteobacteria and Bacteroidota). Furthermore, alkali-heated corncobs addition increased the copy number of nirS, nosZ and nirK genes while greenhouse gas fluxes were lower than common corncobs. In summary, alkali-heated corncobs can be considered as an effective carbon source.