Nitrogen removal by a metal‐resistant bacterium, Pseudomonas putida ZN1, capable of heterotrophic nitrification–aerobic denitrification

Abstract BACKGROUND Bacteria capable of heterotrophic nitrification–aerobic denitrification have received increasing attention, and can achieve simultaneous nitrification and denitrification processes to accelerate nitrogen removal rate. However, heavy metals in industrial wastewater seriously affect the nitrogen removal by these bacteria. Thus, this work focused on the nitrogen removal ability of a metal‐resistant bacterium Pseudomonas putida ZN1. RESULTS ZN1 effectively removed ammonium, nitrate and nitrite with maximum removal efficiencies of 97.47%, 86.08% and 71.57%, and it also preferred to utilize ammonium during the simultaneous nitrification and denitrification process. The inhibitory effect of heavy metals on ammonium removal decreased in the order Ni 2+ > Cr 6+ > Zn 2+ > Cu 2+ , and copB‐I was responsible for the higher copper tolerance of ZN1. The nitrogen removal pathway of ZN1 was proposed to be heterotrophic nitrification combined with aerobic denitrification through the nitrogen source utilization, gas detection, enzyme assay and gene amplification. CONCLUSION ZN1 exhibited excellent heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification capacity, and it effectively removed ammonium from wastewater containing the heavy metals Cu 2+ , Zn 2+ , Cr 6+ and Ni 2+ . All results make strain ZN1 a promising candidate for future application in treating actual wastewater. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry