title: Inhibitory effect of high NH4(+)-N concentration on anaerobic biotreatment of fresh leachate from a municipal solid waste incineration plant.
abstract: Fresh leachate from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration plants generally contains extremely high NH4(+)-N concentration which could inhibit the bioactivity of microorganisms. The inhibitory effect of high NH4(+)-N concentration on anaerobic biotreatment of fresh leachate from a MSW incineration plant in China has been investigated in this study. The inhibition processes was studied by both static tests and a laboratory-scale expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor. The specific methanogenic activity (SMA) of the microorganisms in anaerobic granular sludge was inhibited with the NH4(+)-N concentration increasing to 1000mg/L in static tests. As well the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency and the methane yield decreased in the EGSB reactor, while the volatile fatty acids (VFAs) accumulated and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of the anaerobic granular sludge increased with NH4(+)-N concentration rising to 1000mg/L, without any rebounding during 30days of operation. Decreasing NH4(+)-N concentration to 500mg/L in influent, the COD removal efficiency recovered to about 85% after 26days. 1000mg/L of NH4(+)-N in leachate was suggested to be the inhibition threshold in EGSB reactor. High-throughput sequencing results showed little changes in microbial communities of the sludge for a high NH4(+)-N concentration, indicating that the survival of most microorganisms was not affected under such a condition. It inhibited the bioactivity of the microorganisms, resulting in decrease of the COD removal efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory for Source Control Technology of Water Pollution, Beijing Forestry University, 35 Tsinghua East Road, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory for Source Control Technology of Water Pollution, Beijing Forestry University, 35 Tsinghua East Road, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dang
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory for Source Control Technology of Water Pollution, Beijing Forestry University, 35 Tsinghua East Road, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Caihua
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory for Source Control Technology of Water Pollution, Beijing Forestry University, 35 Tsinghua East Road, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: sdzlab@126.com.
authors.forename: Dezhi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D019149:Bioreactors; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D017745:Incineration; D008697:Methane / Q000378:metabolism; D059013:Microbial Consortia / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012722:Sewage; D000641:Ammonia; D009584:Nitrogen; D008697:Methane
keywords: EGSB reactor; Fresh leachate from MSW incineration plant; Inhibition; NH(4)(+)–N