Microbial monitoring of ammonia removal in a UASB reactor treating pre-digested chicken manure with anaerobic granular inoculum

• Published in: Bioresource technology Vol. 241; pp. 332 - 339
• Main Authors: Yangin-Gomec, Cigdem, Pekyavas, Goksen, Sapmaz, Tugba, Aydin, Sevcan, Ince, Bahar, Akyol, Çağrı, Ince, Orhan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2017
• Subjects: Ammonia; Ammonia removal; Anammox; Animals; Bioreactors; Chicken manure; Chickens; Manure; Next generation sequencing; Nitrogen; Planctomycetes; Sewage; UASB reactor; Waste Disposal, Fluid; UASB reactor; Anammox; Chicken manure; Ammonia removal; Planctomycetes; Next generation sequencing
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.05.070

•Maximum ammonia removal of 80% was achieved with 20mg TAN/L in the effluent.•qPCR and Illumina Miseq sequencing were used to assess microbial community dynamics.•A significant association was found between hzsA gene and anaerobic ammonia removal.•The dominant route for ammonia removal was distinguished by Planctomycetes.
Performance and microbial community dynamics in an upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor coupled with anaerobic ammonium oxidizing (Anammox) treating diluted chicken manure digestate (Total ammonia nitrogen; TAN=123±10mg/L) were investigated for a 120-d operating period in the presence of anaerobic granular inoculum. Maximum TAN removal efficiency reached to above 80% with as low as 20mg/L TAN concentrations in the effluent. Moreover, total COD (tCOD) with 807±215mg/L in the influent was removed by 60–80%. High-throughput sequencing revealed that Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes were dominant phyla followed by Euryarchaeota and Bacteroidetes. The relative abundance of Planctomycetes significantly increased from 4% to 8–9% during the late days of the operation with decreased tCOD concentration, which indicated a more optimum condition to favor ammonia removal through anammox route. There was also significant association between the hzsA gene and ammonia removal in the UASB reactor.