Inhibition of benzene, toluene, phenol and benzoate in single and combination on Anammox activity: implication to the denitrification-Anammox synergy.

A previous study demonstrated that denitrification synergized with Anammox could accelerate the anaerobic degradation of benzene. The inhibitory effects of benzene, toluene, phenol and benzoate in single and combination on Anammox activity were investigated by short-term batch tests. The results indicated that the inhibition of single compounds on Anammox could be well fitted with the extended non-competitive and Luong inhibition kinetic models. The inhibitions of the individual compound were in order as follows: benzene > toluene > phenol > benzoate. The joint inhibitions of bi-component mixtures of benzene with toluene, benzene with phenol and benzene with benzoate on Anammox activity were additive; the joint inhibition of a tri-component mixture (benzene, toluene and phenol) was partly additive; and the joint inhibition of a multicomponent mixture (benzene, toluene, phenol and benzoate) was synergistic. The effect of benzoate on the denitrification-Anammox synergy for benzene degradation was evaluated using a long-term test. Although the average rate of benzene degradation decreased by 13% with the addition of 10 mg L benzoate, the average rate of NO and NH increased by approximately 1- and 0.56-fold, respectively, suggesting that benzoate favors the stability of the denitrification-Anammox synergy. The carboxylation of benzene would be a more favorable pathway for the anaerobic degradation of benzene under denitrification synergized with Anammox.