Evaluating the nitrogen-contaminated groundwater treatment by a denitrifying granular sludge bioreactor: effect of organic matter loading.

A sequential bed granular bioreactor was adapted to treat nitrate-polluted synthetic groundwater under anaerobic conditions and agitation with denitrification gas, achieving very efficient performance in total nitrogen removal at influent organic carbon concentrations of 1 g L-1 (80-90%) and 0.5 g L-1 (70-80%) sodium acetate, but concentrations below 0.5 g L-1 caused accumulation of nitrite and nitrate and led to system failure (30-40% removal). Biomass size and settling velocity were higher above 0.5 g L-1 sodium acetate. Trichosporonaceae dominated the fungal populations at all times, while a dominance of terrestrial group Thaumarchaeota and Acidovorax at 1 and 0.5 g L-1 passed to a domination of Methanobrevibacter and an unclassified Comamonadaceae clone for NaAc lower than 0.5 g L-1. The results obtained pointed out that the denitrifying granular sludge technology is a feasible solution for the treatment of nitrogen-contaminated groundwater, and that influent organic matter plays an important role on the conformation of microbial communities within it and, therefore, on the overall efficiency of the system.