Shifts in Nitrification Kinetics and Microbial Community during Bioaugmentation of Activated Sludge with Nitrifiers Enriched on Sludge Reject Water

This study used two laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) to evaluate the shifts in nitrification kinetics and microbial communities of an activated sludge sewage treatment system (main stream) during bioaugmentation with nitrifiers cultivated on real sludge reject water (side stream). Although bioaugmentation exerted a strong influence on the microbial community and the nitrification kinetics in the main stream, there was 58% of maximum ammonia uptake rate (AUR) and 80% of maximum nitrite uptake rate (NUR) loss of the seed source after bioaugmentation. In addition, nitrite accumulation occurred during bioaugmentation due to the unequal and asynchronous increase of the AUR (from 2.88 to 13.36 mg N/L·h) and NUR (from 0.76 to 4.34 mg N/L·h). FISH results showed that ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) was inclined to be washed out with effluent in contrast to nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB), and Nitrosococcus mobilis lineage was the dominant AOB, while the dominant NOB in the main stream gradually transferred from Nitrospira to Nitrobacter. Nitrospina and Nitrococcus which existed in the seed source could not be detected in the main stream. It can be inferred that nitrite accumulation occurred due to the mismatch of NOB structure but washed out with effluent.