Identifying causes for N2O accumulation in a lab-scale sequencing batch reactor performing simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal

The recently described process of simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal (SNDPR) has a great potential to save capital and operating costs for wastewater treatment plants. However, the presence of glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAOs) and the accumulation of nitrous oxide (N(2)O) can severely compromise the advantages of this process. In this study, these two issues were investigated using a lab-scale sequencing batch reactor performing SNDPR over a 5-month period. The reactor was highly enriched in polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) and GAOs representing around 70% of the total microbial community. PAOs were the dominant population at all times and their abundance increased, while GAOs population decreased over the study period. Anoxic batch tests demonstrated that GAOs rather than denitrifying PAOs were responsible for denitrification. N(2)O accumulated from denitrification and more than half of the nitrogen supplied in a reactor cycle was released into the atmosphere as N(2)O. After mixing SNDPR sludge with other denitrifying sludge, N(2)O present in the bulk liquid was reduced immediately if external carbon was added. We therefore suggest that the N(2)O accumulation observed in the SNDPR reactor is an artefact of the low microbial diversity facilitated by the use of synthetic wastewater with only a single carbon source.