Mechanisms of anammox granular sludge reactor effluent as biostimulant: Shaping microenvironment for anammox metabolism

Effluent from anammox granular sludge (AnGS) bioreactor contains microbes and microbial products. This study explored mechanisms of utilizing AnGS-effluent as biostimulant for anammox process enhancement. Compared with no AnGS-effluent supplemented control reactor, 5.0 and 1.3 times higher ammonium nitrogen and total inorganic nitrogen removal rates, respectively were obtained with continuous AnGS-effluent supplementation after 98 days’ operation. Anammox bacteria from Candidatus Brocadia accounted for 0.1 % (DNA level) and 1.3 %–1.5 % (RNA level) in control reactor, and 2.9 % (DNA level) and 54.5 %–55.4 % (RNA level) in the AnGS-effluent-fed reactor. Influent microbial immigration evaluation showed that bacterial immigration via AnGS-effluent supplementation was not the main contributor to active anammox community development. Amino acids biosynthesis, B-vitamins and coenzymes metabolism related pathways were facilitated by AnGS-effluent supplementation. AnGS-effluent supplementation aided anammox metabolic activity by shaping microenvironment and microbial interactions. This study provides insights into enhancing anammox bacterial metabolism with AnGS-effluent microbial products as biostimulant.