Continuous nitrogen removal by a single-stage reactor packed with ring-laced string medium

The efficiency of nitrogen removal by a partial-nitritation/anammox (PNA) reaction was investigated using a packed-bed reactor in which ring-laced strings were used as the supporting medium. A stable population of PNA microorganisms was established from typical activated sludge, after less than two months of acclimation in the packed-bed reactor, by applying a high nitrogen-loading rate (NLR: 0.53 kg/m3/d) and short hydraulic retention time (HRT: 1.8 h). The stability of reactor performance was confirmed in industrial wastewater (IW), demonstrating a nitrogen removal efficiency (NRE) of greater than 77% during 260 days of continuous operation, between 0.19 and 0.53 kg/m3/d of NLR. Partial nitrification was adequately controlled by low-level oxygen supply to the reactor. Pyro-tag sequencing analysis of the biofilm revealed a clear abundance of anammox bacteria in the inner part of the biofilm and ammonium-oxidizing bacteria in the outer part. In the synthetic inorganic medium (SIM), the microbial community structure did not change drastically between the early and late phases of the experiment's continuous operation, which lasted over 200 days. In IW, however, the existence ratio of anammox bacteria decreased to 4% on day 249 of continuous operation. The number of detected operational taxonomic units (OTUs) increased in the IW, implying that the community structure was widely diversified. However, anammox bacteria could propagate sufficiently to catalyze nitrogen removal under this condition because the NRE was stable at approximately 88%.