Characteristics and transformations of dissolved organic nitrogen in municipal biological nitrogen removal wastewater treatment plants

Abstract

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) represents most of the dissolved nitrogen in the effluent of biological nitrogen removal (BNR) wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The characteristics of wastewater-derived DON in two different WWTPs were investigated by several different methods. The major removals of DON and biodegradable dissolved organic nitrogen (BDON) along the treatment train were observed in the anaerobic process. Dissolved combined amino acids (DCAA) and dissolved free amino acids (DFAA) in the effluent accounted approximately for less than 4% and 1% of the effluent DON, respectively. Approximately half of wastewater-derived DON was capable of passing through a 1 kDa ultrafilter, and low MW DON cannot effectively be removed by BNR processes. More than 80% of effluent DON was composed of hydrophilic compounds, which stimulate algal growth. The study provided important information for future upgrading of WWTPs or the selection of DON removal systems to meet more demanding nitrogen discharge limits.

Determination of the Fate of Dissolved Organic Nitrogen in the Three Wastewater Treatment Plants, Jordan

“…DON fractions of TDN were 24% and 25% in the plant effluent of ITP and MTP, respectively. The results agreed with the previous observation (Huo, et al, 2013) Figure 4 shown that the concentrations of DIN were lower than the DON with average 7.01±4. 04,8.43±6.56 and 7.58±1.75 mg/l,(ZTP,MTP and ITP,respectively).…”

“…Earlier investigations on wastewater-derived DON focused on two questionable problems; where DON is eliminated or even created in BENR processes and what exactly is the influence of BENR process on DON (Czerwionka et al 2012,Simsek et al 2013, Huo, et al, 2013. Sattayatewa et al (2009) reported that around 28-57% of the effluent DON was bioavailable or biodegradable, Simsek and his colleague (2013) determined biodegradable dissolved organic nitrogen (BDON) and bioavailable dissolved organic nitrogen(ABDON) in activated sludge (AS) and trickling filter (TF)wastewater treatment processes.…”

Removal characteristics of DON in pharmaceutical wastewater and its influence on the N-nitrosodimethylamine formation potential and acute toxicity of DOM

“…Thus, the MW˂3 kDa DON may be candidates for future optimization processes, with the purpose of reducing the possibility of harm to aquatic organism. According to previous studies, low MW DON was difficult to remove by biological processes (Pehlivanoglu-Mantas and Sedlak, 2008;Huo et al, 2013). Consequently, effective tertiary treatment technologies are needed for the biologically treated pharmaceutical wastewater.…”

Potential of Bacterial Strains Isolated from Coastal Water for Wastewater Treatment and as Aqua-Feed Additives

“…Nitrite-N (NO 2 -N, Figure 2b) and nitrate-N (NO 3 -N, Figure 2c) were almost completely removed within 1 h in both the control (B. subtilis) and the 4 experimental groups (strains of bacteria), and the removal rate of total nitrogen (TN, Figure 2d) was in the order of Pseudoalteromonas mariniglutinosa (96.1%, gram−), B. safensis (79.9%, gram+), B. albus (79.9%, gram+), Psychrobacter celer (78.0%, gram−), and B. subtilis (72.6%, gram+). Considering that TN (precisely: total dissolved nitrogen, TDN) is the total amount of nitrogen compounds composed of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) (e.g., free amino acids, urea, nucleic acids, trihalomethanes [THMs], dihaloacetic acids [DHAAs] [47,48]), dissolved inorganic nitrogen [DIN], TAN (NH 4 + + NH 3 ), nitrite-N (NO 2 -N), nitrate-N (NO 3 -N), or nitrous oxide [N 2 O] (depending on the oxidation state in water), and assuming, based on this, that DON is simply determined by subtracting DIN concentrations from TN [49], the order of the four strains of bacteria (four strains + control strain) for the amount and rate of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in wastewater degraded by them, was: Pseudoalteromonas mariniglutinosa (27.45 mg L −1 , 92.3%), B. safensis (17.95 mg L −1 , 60.3%), B. albus (17.95 mg L −1 , 60.3%), Psychrobacter celer (16.85 mg L −1 , 56.6%), and B. subtilis (13.65 mg L −1 , 45.9%), respectively. The amount and rate of total phosphorus (TP, Figure 2e) removal were high in the order of B. safensis (5.79 mg L −1 , 82.7%), B. albus (5.70 mg L −1 , 81.4%), B. subtilis (5.64 mg L −1 , 80.6%), Psychrobacter celer (5.62 mg L −1 , 80.3%), and Pseudoalteromonas mariniglutinosa (5.53 mg L −1 , 79.0%), and there was no significant difference between the control (B. subtilis) and the 4 experimental groups (strains of bacteria).…”