Interactions between methane oxidation and nitrification-denitrification

It would be highly beneficial to use the methane produced by anaerobic digestion, which is low cost and accessible, as the carbon source in the removal of nitrogenous contaminants in wastewater. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding coupling systems that entail methane oxidation, nitrification, and denitrification, which restricts their industrial application. In this study, we acclimated a mixed culture to deal with simultaneous nitrification-denitrification coupled to methane oxidation in a laboratory-scale hollow-fiber membrane biofilm reactor. Furthermore, a series of batch experiments were conducted to test methane oxidation coupled to nitrate denitrification (AME-D3), nitrite denitrification (AME-D2), and simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (ME-SND).To study the coupling systems, the microbial communities and functional bacteria were analyzed.