Journal article
Nitrous oxide production by lithotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and implications for engineered nitrogen-removal systems
Biochemical Society transactions, Vol.39(6), pp.1832-1837
12/2011
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/114666
PMID: 22103535
Abstract
Chemolithoautotrophic AOB (ammonia-oxidizing bacteria) form a crucial component in microbial nitrogen cycling in both natural and engineered systems. Under specific conditions, including transitions from anoxic to oxic conditions and/or excessive ammonia loading, and the presence of high nitrite (NO₂⁻) concentrations, these bacteria are also documented to produce nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) gases. Essentially, ammonia oxidation in the presence of non-limiting substrate concentrations (ammonia and O₂) is associated with N₂O production. An exceptional scenario that leads to such conditions is the periodical switch between anoxic and oxic conditions, which is rather common in engineered nitrogen-removal systems. In particular, the recovery from, rather than imposition of, anoxic conditions has been demonstrated to result in N₂O production. However, applied engineering perspectives, so far, have largely ignored the contribution of nitrification to N₂O emissions in greenhouse gas inventories from wastewater-treatment plants. Recent field-scale measurements have revealed that nitrification-related N₂O emissions are generally far higher than emissions assigned to heterotrophic denitrification. In the present paper, the metabolic pathways, which could potentially contribute to NO and N₂O production by AOB have been conceptually reconstructed under conditions especially relevant to engineered nitrogen-removal systems. Taken together, the reconstructed pathways, field- and laboratory-scale results suggest that engineering designs that achieve low effluent aqueous nitrogen concentrations also minimize gaseous nitrogen emissions.
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Details
- Title
- Nitrous oxide production by lithotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and implications for engineered nitrogen-removal systems
- Creators
- Kartik Chandran - Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, 500 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA. kc2288@columbia.eduLisa Y SteinMartin G KlotzMark C M van Loosdrecht
- Publication Details
- Biochemical Society transactions, Vol.39(6), pp.1832-1837
- Academic Unit
- Molecular Biosciences, School of
- Publisher
- England
- Identifiers
- 99900548368401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article