Nitrogen and nitrous oxides emission characteristics of anoxic/oxic wastewater treatment process under different oxygen regulation strategies.

Nitrous oxide (NO) and nitrogen oxides (NO) (i.e., nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO)), which could be produced in wastewater treatment process and result in greenhouse effect and atmospheric pollution, respectively, have been studied limitedly in their emission characteristics and transformation mechanisms. In this study, intelligent oxygen regulation was applied in anoxic/oxic wastewater treatment process (I-A/O), and its effects on regulating NO and NO transformations were extensively explored by comparing it with conventional A/O process (C-A/O). Results showed that the average emission amounts of NO and NO in I-A/O were 7.45 ± 0.66 mg and 1.88 ± 0.10 mg, respectively. Satisfactory reduction of NO by 29.28 %-45.08 % was achieved in I-A/O compared to that of C-A/O, but together with increased NO emission by 83.19 %-120.57 %. Pearson correlation and transcriptional analysis suggested that NO-N reduction in the anoxic phase dominated NO production, while no significant NO production in the oxic phase was found. Hence, the reduced NO production in I-A/O was mainly attributed to its efficient denitrification process. On the other hand, both the anoxic and oxic phases played important roles in NO production. More importantly, sufficient oxygen in I-A/O promoted the ammonia oxidation process, resulting in higher NO emission in I-A/O in the oxic phase. The imbalance in NO and NO emissions was then amplified by the NOR enzyme, which mediates the conversion of NO to NO in both the anoxic and oxic phases. Besides, carbon emission reduction by 31.32 %-36.50 % was obtained in I-A/O due to aeration consumption savings and greenhouse gas emissions reduction compared to C-A/O. Overall, intelligent oxygen regulation optimized the nitrogen transformation and achieved carbon emission reduction in A/O process, but special attention should be paid to the associated risk caused by increased NO emissions.