Achieving partial denitrification using organic matter in brewery wastewater as carbon source

To find a cost-effective carbon source for partial denitrification (PD), brewery wastewater was utilized to test the viability of initiating PD. The S-bre (sludge from the biological treatment tank of Tsingtao Brewery Plant sewage treatment station) and S-lab (sludge from laboratory) were fed with brewery wastewater at CODCr/NO3--N(C/N) ratios of 8.0-10.0 and 5.0 for 95 days at 25 +/-& nbsp;1 & nbsp;C, respectively. The mean NO3--N to NO2--N transformation ratio (NTR) in long-term operation was 40.0% in the S-bre system and 83.2% in the S-lab system. Batch tests with C/ N ratio of 2.2-4.4 were conducted after 95 days incubation and the result suggested that C/N ratio of 4.3 +/-& nbsp;0.1 contributed more to NO2--N accumulation in both systems. Thauera bacteria, known to be beneficial for NO2--N accumulation, became the dominant community. The relative abundances of Thauera on day 95 in the S-bre and S-lab system were 83.36% and 79.11%, respectively.