Light as a novel inhibitor of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (Nob) for the mainstream partial nitrification of wastewater treatment

Conventional biological nutrient removal processes in municipal wastewater treatment plants are energy-consuming, with oxygen supply accounting for 45–75% of the energy expenditure. Many recent studies examined the implications of the anammox process in sidestream wastewater treatment to reduce energy consumption, however, the process did not successfully remove nitrogen in mainstream wastewater treatment with relatively low ammonia concentrations. In this study, blue light was applied as an inhibitor of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) in a photo sequencing batch reactor (PSBR) containing raw wastewater. This simulated a biological nitrogen removal system for the investigation of its application potential in nitrite accumulation and nitrogen removal. It was found that blue light illumination effectively inhibited NOB rather than ammonia-oxidizing bacteria due to their different sensitivity to light, resulting in partial nitrification. It was also observed that the NOB inhibition rates were affected by other operational parameters like mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration and sludge retention time (SRT). According to the obtained results, it was concluded that the process efficiency of partial nitrification and anammox (PN/A) could be significantly enhanced by blue light illumination with appropriate MLSS concentration and SRT conditions.