Biogenic Fe(II-III) Hydroxycarbonate Green Rust Enhances Nitrate Removal and Decreases Ammonium Selectivity during Heterotrophic Denitrification

Abstract

Nitrification-denitrification is the most widely used nitrogen removal process in wastewater treatment. However, this process can lead to undesirable nitrite accumulation and subsequent ammonium production. Biogenic Fe(II-III) hydroxycarbonate green rust has recently emerged as a candidate to reduce nitrite without ammonium production under abiotic conditions. The present study investigated whether biogenic iron(II-III) hydroxycarbonate green rust could also reduce nitrite to gaseous nitrogen during bacterial nitrate reduction. Our results showed that biogenic iron(II-III) hydroxycarbonate green rust could efficiently decrease the selectivity of the reaction towards ammonium during heterotrophic nitrate reduction by native wastewater-denitrifying bacteria and by three different species of Shewanella: S. putrefaciens ATCC 12099, S. putrefaciens ATCC 8071 and S. oneidensis MR-1. Indeed, in the absence of biogenic hydroxycarbonate green rust, bacterial reduction of nitrate converted 11–42% of the initial nitrate into ammonium, but this value dropped to 1–28% in the presence of biogenic hydroxycarbonate green rust. Additionally, nitrite accumulation did not exceed the 2–13% in the presence of biogenic hydroxycarbonate green rust, versus 0–28% in its absence. Based on those results that enhance the extent of denitrification of about 60%, the study proposes a water treatment process that couples the bacterial nitrite production with the abiotic nitrite reduction by biogenic green rust.