Effect of salinity on the performance of an anammox reactor
盐度对厌氧氨氧化反应器运行性能的影响

The feasibility of using an anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) bioreactor to treat ammonium-rich brines was investigated. The results showed that the anammox activity was significantly inhibited by high salinity level and the inhibition was reversible. A salt shock loading of 30 g·L-1 (as NaCl) caused a 67.5% decrease in specific anammox activity compared to reference biomass (not exposed to salt). But the acclimatized biomass showed a specific anammox activity that was only 45.1% lower than that of the reference biomass. When transferred from brine to freshwater, the salt-exposed biomass resumed its activity by 43.1%. After appropriate acclimatization, the reactor performed well and the substrate removal capacity under a salinity of 30 g·L-1 (as NaCl) was comparable with that under freshwater conditions. However, the bioreactor was prone to malfunction after long-term salinity stress on the growth of anammox bacteria.