Comparison of different two-pathway models for describing the combined effect of DO and nitrite on the nitrous oxide production by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria

• Published in: Water science and technology Vol. 75; no. 3-4; pp. 491 - 500
• Main Authors: Lang, Longqi, Pocquet, Mathieu, Ni, Bing-Jie, Yuan, Zhiguo, Spérandio, Mathieu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England IWA Publishing 01.02.2017
• Subjects: Ammonia; Ammonia - metabolism; Bacteria; Betaproteobacteria - growth & development; Betaproteobacteria - metabolism; Biomass; Biotechnology; Calibration; Chemical and Process Engineering; Computer simulation; Data processing; Denitrification; Dissolved oxygen; Emission standards; Emissions; Engineering Sciences; Environmental science; Experiments; Hydroxylamine - chemistry; Life Sciences; Mathematical models; Microorganisms; Models, Theoretical; Nitrites - analysis; Nitrites - metabolism; Nitrous oxide; Nitrous Oxide - analysis; Nitrous Oxide - metabolism; Oxidation; Oxidation-Reduction; Oxygen - analysis; Oxygen - metabolism; Sensitivity analysis; Water Purification - methods; bacterium; ammoniac; AOB; hydroxylamine; nitrous oxide; ammonia; bactérie; nitrifier denitrification; modélisation; calibration; modelling
• ISSN: 0273-1223; 1996-9732
• DOI: 10.2166/wst.2016.389

The aim of this work is to compare the capability of two recently proposed two-pathway models for predicting nitrous oxide (N O) production by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) for varying ranges of dissolved oxygen (DO) and nitrite. The first model includes the electron carriers whereas the second model is based on direct coupling of electron donors and acceptors. Simulations are confronted to extensive sets of experiments (43 batches) from different studies with three different microbial systems. Despite their different mathematical structures, both models could well and similarly describe the combined effect of DO and nitrite on N O production rate and emission factor. The model-predicted contributions for nitrifier denitrification pathway and hydroxylamine pathway also matched well with the available isotopic measurements. Based on sensitivity analysis, calibration procedures are described and discussed for facilitating the future use of those models.