A stable simultaneous anammox, denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation and denitrification process in integrated vertical constructed wetlands for slightly polluted wastewater

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox), denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation bacteria (DAMO) have received great attention for their excellent performance in nitrogen removal. However, not much study focused on the co-existence of anammox, DAMO, and denitrification in constructed wetlands, not to mention the advantage of their application in mitigating the necessary byproduct nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) from the biodegradation process. In this study, the result indicated the construction of integrated vertical constructed wetlands (IVCWs) contributed to the high-efficient stable simultaneous anammox, DAMO and denitrification (SADD) process for the nutrients removal, with denitrification being the least contributor to nitrogen reduction. Besides the succession of SADD process was largely the driver for the variation of N2O, CH4 emission. The structural equation method (SEM) further suggested that the three biological pathways of qnorB/bacteria, archaea/qnorB, and anammox/nirK accounted for the N2O production, as were top-controlled by mcrA/DAMO in IVCWs. Besides the anammox-associated nitrifier denitrification was the main source for N2O production. And that the trade-off effect between the CH4 and N2O production was exerted by the DAMO, while the influence was far from satisfactory under the methane constraints. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.