Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) is widely used for ammonia removal in saline recirculating aquaculture systems but often faces a slow start-up problem. The aim of this study was to develop a strategy for the rapid start-up of MBBR treating synthetic mariculture wastewater. Changes in nitrification performance, biofilm characteristics and bacterial community were assessed in response to various start-up strategies: R1 as the control; R2 with step-decrease of inlet NH4+-N; R3 with step-increase of inlet salinity; R4 added with particulate organic matter (POM) and R5 inoculated with nitrifying bacteria. Results show that nitrification was completed on day 63 for R3, 16-18 days faster than the other strategies. The highest protein (28.2 ± 5.1 mg/g·VS) and polysaccharide (59.4 ± 0.4 mg/g·VS) contents were observed in R3, likely linked to the faster biofilm formation. Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis confirmed the typical constituents of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and DNA in biofilms. Moreover, along with the biofilm development in R3, the intensity of the peak at 1400 cm-1 (assigned to specific amides) decreased. Pyrosequencing of 16s rRNA revealed that Gammaproteobacteria was the predominating microbial community at class level (35.6%) in R3. qPCR analysis further verified the significantly higher gene copies of amoA (1.57 × 104 copies/μL) and nxrB (5.51 × 103 copies/μL) in R3. Results obtained make the elevated salinity strategy a promising alternative for the rapid nitrification start-up of saline wastewater.
Keywords: Bacterial community; Extracellular polymeric substance (EPS); Mariculture wastewater; Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR); Nitrification start-up.
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