IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i24p16551-d1294230.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Biochar Amendment in Vermi-Wetland for Enhancing Nitrification during Excess Sludge Recycling

Author

Listed:
  • Ting Bai

    (Gansu Research Institute of Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Lanzhou 730070, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Gratien Twagirayezu

    (School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, China
    State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Zhen Wang

    (Gansu Research Institute of Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Lanzhou 730070, China)

  • Hui Xia

    (School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, China)

  • Chunlei Sang

    (School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, China)

  • Kui Huang

    (School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, China)

  • Hongguang Cheng

    (State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, China)

Abstract

Vermi-wetland is a sustainable technology for recycling excess sludge in small-town areas. Although biochar (BC) amendment into the vermi-wetland could considerably boost the effectiveness of treating sludge, its impact on the nitrogen transformation in vermi-wetland remains unclear. Hence, this study aimed to explore the mechanism and performance of BC amendment into the vermi-wetland for enhancing nitrogen transformation during excess sludge recycling. The semi-aquatic plant Acorus calamus and the earthworm Eisenia fetida were planted in the designed vertical vermi-reactor, with corncob BC added to the upper and lower layers of one vermi-reactor, in comparison with the vermi-reactor without BC. The vermi-reactor with BC significantly lowered ( p < 0.05) ammonia nitrogen (NH 4 + -N) and nitrite nitrogen (NO 2 − -N) in the effluent by 1.63 and 4.85-fold, respectively, and increased considerably nitrate nitrogen (NO 3 − -N) in the effluent by 1.5-fold. The numbers of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) in the vermi-reactor with BC were greatly enriched by 6 and 1.42-fold, compared with their counterparts ( p < 0.05). Moreover, nirS and nirK gene copies in the vermi-reactor with BC were considerably improved ( p < 0.05) by 2.03 and 1.82-fold, respectively. BC significantly enhanced the growth of earthworms by 6.92-fold and promoted plant growth by 1.28-fold. In addition, the AOB members like Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira and the AOA members like Crenarchaeota and Thaumarchaeota cohabited in BC. Overall, these results suggest that a vermi-reactor amended with BC could enhance the nitrification processes of excess sludge, thereby improving the treatment performance of vermi-wetland.

Suggested Citation

  • Ting Bai & Gratien Twagirayezu & Zhen Wang & Hui Xia & Chunlei Sang & Kui Huang & Hongguang Cheng, 2023. "Biochar Amendment in Vermi-Wetland for Enhancing Nitrification during Excess Sludge Recycling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-13, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:24:p:16551-:d:1294230
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16551/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16551/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicholas Blenis & Nguyen Hue & Tai McClellan Maaz & Michael Kantar, 2023. "Biochar Production, Modification, and Its Uses in Soil Remediation: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-15, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anna Ruseva & Tatyana Minnikova & Sergey Kolesnikov & Sofia Revina & Anatoly Trushkov, 2023. "Ecological State of Haplic Chernozem after Pollution by Oil at Different Levels and Remediation by Biochar," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-14, September.
    2. Arathi Radhakrishnan & Pandiyan Balaganesh & Mangottiri Vasudevan & Narayanan Natarajan & Abhishek Chauhan & Jayati Arora & Anuj Ranjan & Vishnu D. Rajput & Svetlana Sushkova & Tatiana Minkina & Rupes, 2023. "Bioremediation of Hydrocarbon Pollutants: Recent Promising Sustainable Approaches, Scope, and Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-18, March.
    3. Radheshyam Yadav & Wusirika Ramakrishna, 2023. "Biochar as an Environment-Friendly Alternative for Multiple Applications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-23, September.
    4. Muniba Farhad & Maryam Noor & Muhammad Zubair Yasin & Mohsin Hussain Nizamani & Veysel Turan & Muhammad Iqbal, 2024. "Interactive Suitability of Rice Stubble Biochar and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi for Improving Wastewater-Polluted Soil Health and Reducing Heavy Metals in Peas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-18, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:24:p:16551-:d:1294230. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.