Insight into the short-term effect of fulvic acid on nitrogen removal performance and N-acylated-L-homoserine lactones (AHLs) release in the anammox system

Abstract Fulvic acid (FA) can serve as electron shuttles between bacteria and electron acceptors. It explored the short-term effect of FA dose on nitrogen removal performance and N-acylated-L-homoserine lactones (AHLs) release change in the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) system. The results demonstrated that the total inorganic nitrogen removal efficiency increased with the FA dosages from 0.5 mM to 1 mM. FA addition improved anammox bacteria activity, together with extracellular polymeric substances production. FA addition from 0.5 mM to 1 mM stimulated AHLs release in both water and biomass phases, which indicated that the quorum sensing could be improved. These findings revealed that the addition of FA could improve quorum sensing and then enhance nitrogen removal performance.