Influence of nitrite accumulation on “Candidatus Accumulibacter” population structure and enhanced biological phosphorus removal from municipal wastewater

Abstract

A modified University of Cape Town (MUCT) process was used to treat real municipal wastewater with low carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N). To our knowledge, this is the first study where the influence of nitrite accumulation on "Candidatus Accumulibacter" clade-level population structure was investigated during nitritation establishment and destruction. Real time quantitative PCR assays were conducted using the polyphosphate kinase 1 gene (ppk1) as a genetic marker. Abundances of total "Candidatus Accumulibacter", the relative distributions and population structure of the five "Candidatus Accumulibacter" clades were characterized. Under complete nitrification, clade I using nitrate as electron acceptor was below 5% of total "Candidatus Accumulibacter". When the reactor was transformed into nitritation, clade I gradually disappeared. Clade IID using nitrite as electron acceptor for denitrifying phosphorus (P) removal was always the dominant "Candidatus Accumulibacter" throughout the operational period. This clade was above 90% on average in total "Candidatus Accumulibacter", even up to nearly 100%, which was associated with good performance of denitrifying P removal via nitrite pathway. The nitrite concentrations affected the abundance of clade IID. The P removal was mainly completed by anoxic P uptake of about 88%. The P removal efficiency clearly had a positive correlation with the nitrite accumulation ratio. Under nitritation, the P removal efficiency was 30% higher than that under complete nitrification, suggesting that nitrite was appropriate as electron acceptor for denitrifying P removal when treating carbon-limited wastewater.