Electrochemical-coupled sulfur-driven autotrophic denitrification for nitrogen removal from raw landfill leachate: Evaluation of performance and mechanisms

Huiyu Liang; Yanyan Jia; Samir Kumar Khanal; Dongqi Huang; Lianpeng Sun; Hui Lu

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.121592

Electrochemical-coupled sulfur-driven autotrophic denitrification for nitrogen removal from raw landfill leachate: Evaluation of performance and mechanisms

Water Res. 2024 Apr 10:256:121592. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121592. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Huiyu Liang¹, Yanyan Jia², Samir Kumar Khanal³, Dongqi Huang¹, Lianpeng Sun¹, Hui Lu⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology (Sun Yat-Sen University), Guangzhou, PR China.
² School of Ecology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen, PR China.
³ Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA.
⁴ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology (Sun Yat-Sen University), Guangzhou, PR China. Electronic address: lvhui3@mail.sysu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38626614
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121592

Abstract

The cost-effective and environment-friendly sulfur-driven autotrophic denitrification (SdAD) process has drawn significant attention for advanced nitrogen removal from low carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio wastewater in recent years. However, achieving efficient nitrogen removal and maintaining system stability of SdAD process in treating low C/N landfill leachate treatment have been a major challenge. In this study, a novel electrochemical-coupled sulfur-driven autotrophic denitrification (ESdAD) system was developed and compared with SdAD system through a long-term continuous study. Superior nitrogen removal performance (removal efficiency of 89.1 ± 2.5 %) was achieved in ESdAD system compared to SdAD process when treating raw landfill leachate (influent total nitrogen (TN) concentration of 241.7 ± 36.3 mg-N/L), and the effluent TN concentration of ESdAD bioreactor was as low as 24.8 ± 5.1 mg-N/L, which meets the discharge standard of China (< 40 mg N/L). Moreover, less sulfate production rate (1.3 ± 0.2 mg SO₄^2--S/mgNO_x^--N vs 1.7 ± 0.2 mg SO₄^2--S/mgNO_x^--N) and excellent pH modulation (pH of 6.9 ± 0.2 vs 5.8 ± 0.4) were also achieved in the ESdAD system compared to SdAD system. The improvement of ESdAD system performance was contributed to coexistence and interaction of heterotrophic bacteria (e.g., Rhodanobacter, Thermomonas, etc.), sulfur autotrophic bacteria (e.g., Thiobacillus, Sulfurimonas, Ignavibacterium etc.) and hydrogen autotrophic bacteria (e.g., Thauera, Comamonas, etc.) under current stimulation. In addition, microbial nitrogen metabolic activity, including functional enzyme (e.g., Nar and Nir) activities and electron transfer capacity of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and cytochrome c (Cyt-C), were also enhanced during current stimulation, which facilitated the nitrogen removal and maintained system stability. These findings suggested that ESdAD is an effective and eco-friendly process for advanced nitrogen removal for low C/N wastewater.

Keywords: Advanced nitrogen removal; Electrochemical-coupled sulfur-driven autotrophic denitrification; Landfill leachate.