Novel microorganism has potential to treat high-ammonium wastewater

Water pollution has become increasingly serious, and the main pollutant in most water bodies is nitrogen. Microbial nitrification/denitrification is one of the most effective nitrogen removal pathways for wastewater.

Generally, the traditional processes of microbial nitrogen removal include two parts: aerobic nitrification and anaerobic denitrification. Nitrification and denitrification can be carried out simultaneously in one reactor by a class of microorganisms—heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification (HN-AD) bacteria.

A research group led by Prof. Wu Jinshui from the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture (ISA) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences isolated a novel heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification bacterium—Alcaligenes faecalis WT14, which has the potential to treat high-ammonium wastewater.

The study was published in Journal of Environmental Management on Jan. 16.

The researchers found WT14 could tolerate high concentration ammonia nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N) up to 2000 mg·L^-1 and had an efficient NH₄⁺-N removal rate of 55.9 mg·L^-1·h^-1.

Unlike other Alcaligenes faecalis species, WT14 could efficiently remove high concentration nitrate (NO3—N) or nitrite (NO2—N) when they are the sole nitrogen sources.

These results implied that WT14 is a novel Alcaligenes faecalis strain and has the potential for treating wastewater containing high-strength NH₄⁺-N, NO₃—N, or NO₂—N.