Abstract:
To avoid the influence of insufficient carbon sources on the denitrification of conventional ecological gravel beds (EGBs) during the treatment of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, alkali-modified corncobs (CC-AL) as enhanced nitrogen removal fillers and steel slag as enhanced phosphorus removal fillers were prepared to set up the novel enhanced EGBs, and the influence of filler types and hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the nitrogen and phosphorus removal was studied compared with the EGB without enhanced nitrogen and phosphorus removal fillers, i.e. control group EGB. The characteristics of the microbial community and the relative abundance of enzymes involved in the nitrogen metabolism were analyzed by metagenomics. The results indicated that CC-AL had better carbon release capacity than the unmodified corncob (CC-UN), and the nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies of the CC-AL EGB were higher than those of the CC-UN EGB. The TN, \mathrmNO_3^- -N, and TP removal efficiencies of CC-AL EGB at 6 h HRT were 64.72%±4.20%, 85.93%±2.18%, and 31.32%±1.25%, respectively. As HRT decreased (from 6 h to 2 h), the removal rates of TN and \mathrmNO_3^- -N decreased gradually, and the highest TP removal efficiency (40.08%±2.30%) was achieved at 4 h HRT. Both CC-AL and CC-UN could improve the nitrogen removal efficiency through the enhancement of denitrification, which increased the concentration of denitrification reductases and the relative abundance of denitrifying bacteria-related groups such as Bacteroidota and Thermodesulfobacteriota. The concentrations of nitrate reductases EC 1.7.99.- and EC 1.7.5.1 in CC-AL EGB were 2.10 and 2.35 times higher than those of the CG-EGB. At 6 h HRT, the TN and TP surface load reduction rates of the CC-AL EGB were 5.29 g/(m
2·d) (as N) and 0.31 g/(m
2·d) (as P), which were relatively high and indicated potential practical application. Based on the comprehensive consideration of the nitrogen and phosphorus removal, CC-AL and 6 h were recommended as the optimal filler and HRT for EGBs.