Abstract:
Shortcut nitrification, as one of the key technologies for achieving carbon emission reduction and energy conservation, had gradually been applied in municipal wastewater treatment. To investigate nitrogen and oxygen migration-transformation characteristics during the NH
4+-N→NO
2−-N oxidation stage in urban sewage short-cut nitrification processes, an intermittent aeration strategy (aeration/rest duration ratio of 30 min:30 min) was adopted to achieve rapid start-up and stable operation of shortcut nitrification (room temperature operation with DO maintained at 1~1.2 mg/L). Results demonstrated that the ammonia nitrogen removal efficiency exceeded 98% and nitrite accumulation rate surpassed 97% in domestic wastewater treatment. The
δ15N
NO2 and
δ18O
NO2 values increased with enhanced NO
2−-N accumulation rate, where
δ18O
NO2 gradually stabilized at 11‰ while
δ15N
NO2 rose from −25.79‰ to −12.51‰, indicating significantly stronger nitrogen isotope fractionation than oxygen isotope fractionation. Through artificial regulation of
δ18O
H2O levels (54.34‰, 97.98‰, and 147.19‰),
δ18O
NO2 abundance was observed to substantially exceed
δ18O
H2O values with increasing NO
2−-N accumulation rate, confirming that both O
2 and H
2O participated in NH
4+-N to NO
2−-N conversion during shortcut nitrification. The dual N and O isotope fractionation technology provided in-depth insights into the formation mechanisms of shortcut nitrification, enabled rapid assessment of the feasibility and stability of NO
2−-N accumulation, and offered new ideas and methods for process control and real-time monitoring in short-cut nitrification systems.