Abstract
•Seven psychrophs specialized on nitrogen removal isolated for bioaugmentation.•embedding SWISs exhibit better nitrogen removal performance under low temperature.•Embedding bioaugmentation alter bacteria community structure significantly.
Poor nitrogen removal efficiency (mainly nitrate, NO3−-N) at low temperatures strongly limits application of subsurface wastewater infiltration systems (SWISs). Seven psychrophilic strains (heterotrophic nitrifying bacteria and aerobic denitrifying bacteria) were isolated and added to SWISs to investigate the effect of embedding and direct-dosing bioaugmentation strategies on sewage treatment performance at low temperature. Both bioaugmentation strategies improved ammonium (NH4+-N) removal efficiencies, and the embedding strategy also exhibited satisfactory NO3−-N and total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiencies. Pyrosequencing results of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene indicated that the embedding strategy significantly decreased the indigenous soil microbial diversity (p < .05) and altered the bacterial community structure, significantly increasing the relative abundance of Clostridia, which have good nitrate-reducing activity.