Making waves: Harnessing anammox bacteria coupled with dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium for sustainable wastewater management

Anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox) which converts nitrite and ammonium to dinitrogen gas is an energy-efficient nitrogen removal process. One of the bottlenecks for anammox application in wastewater treatment is the stable supply of nitrite for anammox bacteria. Dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) is a process that converts nitrate to nitrite and then to ammonium. Significantly, it has been reported that some anammox bacteria can perform DNRA by reducing nitrate to nitrite and ammonium nitrogen with little low-molecular-weight organic acids such as volatile fatty acids. Here, we propose an innovative nitrogen removal process, i.e., nitrification and anammox coupled with partial DNRA (i.e., NPDA), and make a theoretical comparison with previously accepted partial nitrification and anammox (PNA) and partial denitrification and anammox (PdNA) for nitrogen removal. Under similar conditions of oxygen consumption, removal efficiency, external carbon source addition, and greenhouse gas emission, the novel NPDA process can better facilitate resource-effective and environment-friendly wastewater treatment. Thermodynamic analysis indicates that partial DNRA-anammox appears to be preferred, oxidizing per mole of NH₄ ⁺produces higher energy gain than that of conventional anammox alone. The carbon source limitation rather than nitrate limitation is the key to the realization of NPDA process. This perspective highlights the positive role of DNRA for sustainable wastewater management.