Isolated heterotrophic nitrifying and aerobic denitrifying bacterium for treating actual refinery wastewater with low C/N ratio

Heterotrophic nitrifying and aerobic denitrifying bacteria that have been widely isolated from complicated activated sludge microflorae demonstrate dominant advantages in simultaneous removal of ammonium and nitrogen oxides under aerobic conditions. However, owing to the need of organic carbon to support bacterial growth, nitrogen removal of actual industrial wastewater with low carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio remains a challenge. Here, Pseudomonas mendocina Y7 was identified and presented to effectively remove nitrogen of actual refinery wastewater with low C/N ratio. The isolated bacterium showed high removal efficiency of NH 4 + –N, NO 2 − –N, and NO 3 − –N up to about 90% in single (100 mg/L) or mixed (200 mg/L) nitrogen source media at low C/N ratio of 6 when it was cultivated for 12 or 21 h. According to PCR amplification, the heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification capability of strain Y7 was attributed to the functional genes of amoA, hao, napA, and nirS. In activated sludge process for treating actual refinery wastewater with low C/N ratio, compared to abundant accumulation of NO 2 − –N and NO 3 − –N only using the activated sludge, strain Y7 significantly improved the removal efficiency of NH 4 + ‒N and total nitrogen (with influent concentrations of about 40 and 55 mg/L) from about 47% and 22% to about 85% and 73%, respectively, without the accumulation of nitrogen oxides. Microbial community structure analysis revealed that strain Y7 could coexist well with other microorganisms in the activated sludge and maintain highly efficient and steady nitrogen removal in continuous treatment system. This discovery provides a promising treatment approach toward actual nitrogen-rich industrial wastewater.