Microaerophilic activated sludge system for ammonia recovery from high-strength nitrogenous wastewater: Performance and microbial communities

A transition to ammonia recovery from wastewater has started; however, a technology for sustainable nitrogen retention in the form of ammonia is still in development. This study validated a microaerophilic activated sludge (MAS) system to efficiently retain ammonia from high-strength nitrogenous wastewater. The MAS is based on conventional activated sludge (CAS) with aerobic and settling compartments. Low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations (<0.1 mg/L) and short solid retention times (SRTs) (<5 d) eliminated nitrifying bacteria. The two parallel MASs were successfully operated for 300 d and had ammonia retention of 101.7 ± 24.9% and organic carbon removal of 85.5 ± 8.9%. The MASs mitigated N 2 O emissions with an emission factor of <0.23%, much lower than the default value of CAS (1.6%). A short-term step-change test demonstrated that N 2 O indicated the initiation of nitrification and the completion of denitrification in the MAS. The parallel MASs had comparable microbial diversity, promoting organic carbon oxidation while inhibiting ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOMs), as revealed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, qPCR of functional genes, and fluorescent in situ hybridization of β-Proteobacteria AOB. The microbial analyses also uncovered that filamentous bacteria were positively correlated with effluent turbidity. Together, controlling DO and SRT achieved successful ammonia retention, mainly by suppressing AOM activity. This process represents a new nitrogen management paradigm. Synopsis Moving from nitrogen removal to nitrogen recovery is critical for establishing a sustainable society. We provided proof-of-the-concept for a novel ammonia retention technology by retrofitting an activated sludge system.