Activity enhancement and the anammox mechanism under low temperature via PVA-SA and nano Fe2O3-PVA-SA entrapped beads

Anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AAOB) have a long growth time and low activity at low temperatures. In suspended systems, sludge is easily lost, which limits the mainstream application of anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox).Entrapment provides effective ideas for solving these problems. In this study, polyvinyl‑sodium alginate (PVA-SA) and nano Fe2O3-PVA-SA entrapment beads were prepared to discuss the effectiveness of entrapment enhanced anammox sludge at low temperatures. The differences in the entrapped beads and granules were compared to analyze the strengthening mechanism. The results show that the nitrogen removal performance of granules, PVA-SA and nano Fe2O3-PVA-SA entrapped beads, first decreased and then increased during the cooling and low-temperature operation. Nano Fe2O3-PVA-SA entrapped beads showed the smallest decline and the highest degree of recovery. Reaction metering ratio (△NO2−-N/△NH4+-N and △NO3−-N/△NH4+-N) showed that entrapment could realize Nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) inhibition and improve the activity of denitrifying bacteria (DNB) to promote the removal of total nitrogen by providing a strict anaerobic environment. The results demonstrate that entrapment is beneficial for maintaining the content of heme c, specifically, nano Fe2O3 can stimulate its production, and is beneficial for alleviating the reduction of hydrazine dehydrogenase (HDH) enzyme activity. The extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) content and analysis showed that entrapment does not change the composition of EPS, and can maintain the EPS content. Nano Fe2O3 can stimulate AAOB to secrete more EPS to maintain sludge stability. From a molecular perspective, entrapment can maintain the expression of functional genes, promote the enrichment of AAOB, thus improving the nitrogen removal performance from the dual perspectives of “quality” and “quantity”.