Rapid in-situ recovery of starved anammox consortia: Metabolic stimulation and microbial synergy driven by organics and oxygen.

Supplementing organics and residual oxygen rapidly restores anammox activity in starved sludge, achieving 83% nitrogen removal and 88.99% activity recovery in 30 days.

• Why it matters: Starvation severely impairs anammox processes, limiting their practical application in wastewater treatment; effective in-situ recovery methods are urgently needed for operational stability.
• What they did: The study applied a simple approach by adding organics at a C/N ratio of 0.3 along with residual oxygen, monitoring metabolic responses and microbial dynamics over time.
• The result: Enhanced bacterial metabolism and microbial interactions drove recovery, with increased intracellular H2O2 levels promoting activity, providing a practical strategy for rapid, in-situ anammox restoration.