Biological nutrient removal in the anaerobic side-stream reactor coupled membrane bioreactors for sludge reduction

An anoxic-aerobic membrane bioreactor (AO-MBR), an anaerobic side-stream reactor (ASSR) coupled MBR (A-MBR), and an MBR with ASSR packed with carriers (AP-MBR) were operated parallelly to investigate biological nutrient removal, microbial community structure and mass balance of nutrients in sludge reduction systems. Compared to AO-MBR, A-MBR and AP-MBR were both efficient in COD and NH₄ ⁺-N removal, had significantly higher nitrogen removal, reduced sludge production by 35.0% and 45.9%, but deteriorated biological phosphorus removal. Nitrosomonadaceae and Nitrospira were major bacteria responsible for ammonium and nitrite oxidation in the three systems. Inserting ASSR and packing carriers both favored denitrifying bacteria enrichment and organic substances release, and thus resulted in higher nitrate uptake rate (NUR) in the anoxic tank. Higher endogenous NUR in ASSR than in anoxic tank also indicated that ASSR and carriers both accelerated sludge decay. Denitrification and sludge reduction occurred in ASSR played important roles in biological nutrient removal.