Simultaneous removal of ammonium from landfill leachate and hydrogen sulfide from biogas using a novel two-stage oxic-anoxic system

Abstract Anoxic biodesulfurization has been achieved in several bioreactor systems that have shown robustness and high elimination capacities (ECs). However, the high operating costs of this technology, which are mainly caused by the high requirements of nitrite or nitrate, make its full-scale application difficult. In the present study, the use of biologically produced nitrate/nitrite by nitrification of two different ammonium substrates, namely synthetic medium and landfill leachate, is proposed as a novel alternative. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using both ammonium substrates as nutrient solutions. A maximum elemental sulfur production of 95 ± 1% and a maximum H2S EC of 141.18 g S-H2S m−3 h−1 (RE = 95.0%) was obtained using landfill leachate as the ammonium source. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) analysis of the microbial community revealed that the most common genera present in the desulfurizing bioreactor were Sulfurimonas (91.8–50.9%) followed by Thauera (1.1–24.2%) and Lentimicrobium (2.0–9.7%).