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Mechanistic Insights into Impacts of Microplastics on Anammox
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Lab tanks using wastewater bacteria that remove nitrogen (Anammox) were exposed to colored plastic particles. Aged red microplastics cut ammonium removal to 71%, increased cell stress and damage, and reduced the bacteria's abundance, showing how these particles can weaken this wastewater treatment process.
Microplastics (MPs) are pervasive emerging contaminants in wastewater, potentially affecting microbially mediated nitrogen removal process. However, the intricate interactions between MPs and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) remain poorly understood. To address the potential threat posed by MPs in municipal wastewater to Anammox process, this study established sequencing batch Anammox systems spiked with colored polyethylene MPs to investigate their impact mechanisms on nitrogen removal efficiency, cellular survival strategies, and microbial community structure dynamics. The results indicated that MPs significantly inhibited nitrogen removal, with NH 4 + -N removal efficiency in the aged red MPs group decreased to 71.0%. Toxicological mechanism analysis revealed that aged MPs exacerbated cellular oxidative stress, leading to a malondialdehyde content 7.6 times higher than that of the control. This induced severe membrane damage, reduced energy synthesis, impaired electron transfer, and weakened stress resistance, thereby inhibiting nitrogen removal and Anammox activity. Metagenomic analysis further suggested that aged red MPs reduced the abundance of Planctomycetota by 54%, with decreases of 32.3% and 40.3% for Candidatus Brocadia and Candidatus Kuenenia , respectively, indicating that aged MPs significantly inhibited the proliferation of Anammox microbiome. This study elucidated mechanisms underlying suppression of Anammox by MPs, providing a theoretical basis for MP risk management in wastewater treatment.
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This review summarizes how microplastics affect anammox, a key biological process used in wastewater treatment to remove nitrogen. Microplastics disrupt the microbial communities that perform this process, reducing treatment efficiency depending on plastic concentration, size, and type. Since wastewater treatment is a critical barrier preventing pollutants from reaching drinking water sources, any reduction in treatment performance could increase human exposure to contaminants.
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Researchers tested whether polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics affect anammox, a key biological nitrogen removal process used in wastewater treatment. They found that the physical particles themselves did not significantly inhibit the process, but chemical compounds leaching from the plastics, particularly the plasticizer dibutyl phthalate, caused temporary inhibition. Systems using granular or attached biomass structures showed better resilience to these chemical effects than suspended growth systems.
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