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Nitrate removal to its fate in wetland mesocosm filled with sponge iron: Impact of influent COD/N ratio

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Abstract

Sponge iron (s-Fe0) is a porous metal with the potential to be an electron donor for denitrification. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of using s-Fe0 as the substrate of wetland mesocosms. Here, wetland mesocosms with the addition of s-Fe0 particles (CW-Fe) and a blank control group (CW-CK) were established. The NO3−-N reduction property and water quality parameters (pH, DO, and ORP) were examined at three COD/N ratios (0, 5, and 10). Results showed that the NO3−-N removal efficiencies were significantly increased by 6.6 to 58.9% in the presence of s-Fe0. NH4+-N was mainly produced by chemical denitrification, and approximately 50% of the NO3− -N was reduced to NH4+-N, at the COD/ratio of 0. An increase of the influent COD/N ratio resulted in lower ehermical denitrification and higher bio-denitrification. Although chemical denitrification mediated by s-Fe0 led to an accumulation of NH4+-N at COD/N ratios of 0 and 5, the TIN removal efficiencies increased by 4.5%–12.4%. Moreover, the effluent pH, DO, and ORP values showed a significant negative correlation with total Fe and Fe (II) (P < 0.01). High-throughput sequencing analysis indicated that Trichococcus (77.2%) was the most abundant microorganism in the CW-Fe mesocosm, while Thauera, Zoogloea, and Herbaspirillum were the primary denitrifying bacteria. The denitrifiers, Simplicispira, Dechloromonas, and Denitratisoma, were the dominant bacteria for CW-CK. This study provides a valuable method and an improved understanding of NO3−-N reduction characteristics of s-Fe0 in a wetland mesocosm.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51679041 and 51909034); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant Nos. 2232019D3-21 and 2232018D3-22); the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2018M641894); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and Graduate Student Innovation Fund of Donghua University (Nos. CUSF-DH-D-2019079 and CUSF-DH-D-2019080); Shanghai Sailing Program (No. 19YF1401900); Shanghai Rising-Star Program (No. 19QC1401100).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, State Environmental Protection Engineering Center for Pollution Treatment and Control in Textile Industry, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Zhihao Si, **nshan Song, **n Cao, Yuhui Wang, Yifei Wang, Yufeng Zhao, **aoyan Ge & Awet Arefe Tesfahunegn

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  1. Zhihao Si
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  2. **nshan Song
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  3. **n Cao
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  4. Yuhui Wang
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  5. Yifei Wang
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  6. Yufeng Zhao
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  7. **aoyan Ge
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  8. Awet Arefe Tesfahunegn
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Correspondence to **nshan Song or **n Cao.

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Highlights

• CW-Fe allowed a high-performance of NO3−-N removal at the COD/N ratio of 0.

• Higher COD/N resulted in lower chem-denitrification and higher bio-denitrification.

• The application of s-Fe0 contributed to TIN removal in wetland mesocosm.

• s-Fe0 changed the main denitrifiers in wetland mesocosm.

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Si, Z., Song, X., Cao, X. et al. Nitrate removal to its fate in wetland mesocosm filled with sponge iron: Impact of influent COD/N ratio. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 14, 4 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-019-1183-7

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