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The increasing use of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) poses an emerging challenge to biological wastewater treatment. The long-term impact of CuNPs on anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process was firstly investigated in this study. The nitrogen removal capacity of anammox reactor was nearly deprived within 30 days under the stress of 5.0 mg L −1 CuNPs and the relative abundance of anammox bacteria (Ca. Kuenenia ) was decreased from 29.59% to 17.53%. Meanwhile, copper resistance genes associated with the Cus, Cop and Pco systems were enriched to eliminate excess intracellular copper. After the withdrawal of CuNPs from the influent, the nitrogen removal capacity of anammox biomass recovered completely within 70 days. Overall, anammox biomass showed susceptibility, resistance and resilience to the stress of CuNPs. Therefore, the potential impacts of ENPs on anammox-based processes should be of great concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing use of engineered metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) in consumer products raises great concerns about their environmental impacts, but their potential impacts on anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process in wastewater treatment remain unclear. In this study, the presence of MONPs (1, 50, 200 mg L -1 ) exhibited no visible effects on the nitrogen removal performance of anammox reactors, but high levels (200 mg L -1 ) of SiO 2 NPs, Al 2 O 3 NPs and CeO 2 NPs had a distinct effect on shaping the anammox community. Long-term exposure of MONPs caused different responses in the relative abundance of Ca. Kuenenia, the level of functional gene HzsA and the activities of three key enzymes involved in anammox metabolism, but no significant inhibition effects on specific anammox activity were detected. Overall, the effects of MONPs on anammox community structure and sludge properties depended on their types and levels and followed the order SiO 2  > CeO 2  > Al 2 O 3  > TiO 2 ., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)