Abstract:Objective To explore the nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiency of different immobilization strategies and mineralization methods of Bacillus licheniformis ZXT for high nitrogen-phosphorus wastewater, clarify the optimal mineralization conditions and carrier mechanism of action, and provide technical support for the green treatment and recovery of complex high nitrogen-phosphorus wastewater resources such as swine manure wastewater.Methods Four systems—free bacteria, chemical precipitation, activated carbon fiber (ACF) immobilization, and polyvinyl alcohol-sodium alginate-carbon powder (PVA-SA-CP) immobilization—were compared for their mineralization effects under Mg:N:P molar ratios of 0.6:1:1, 1:1:1, and 1.4:1:1. Characterization techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were employed to analyze mineral properties. The application potential of the systems was verified with actual swine manure wastewater.Results The ACF immobilization system exhibited the optimal efficiency. Under the Mg:N:P ratio of 1:1:1, after seven days of cultivation, the final concentration of NH4+ was only 0.59 mg/L (removal rate: 99.81%) and the final concentration of PO43- was as low as 0.03 mg/L (removal rate: 99.99%), both meeting the national discharge standards (GB 8978—1996), with the formation of regular crystalline long plate-like struvite (i.e., magnesium ammonium phosphate, MAP). The PVA-SA-CP immobilization system showed significantly weaker removal effects under the same ratio, with final concentrations of NH4+ and PO43- being 5.07 mg/L and 0.45 mg/L, respectively. The chemical precipitation method failed to meet the standards, as the final concentration of NH4+ ranged from 38.90 to 48.01 mg/L (removal rate: 84.70%-87.61%) within 24 h. Free bacteria achieved the removal rates of 99.97% for NH4+ and 99.92% for PO43- in actual swine manure wastewater after eight days of cultivation, with final NH4+ and PO43- concentrations of 0.15 mg/L and 0.05 mg/L, respectively, which complied with the discharge requirements.Conclusion Due to its developed microporous structure and good biocompatibility, ACF can efficiently enrich bacteria and promote the regular assembly of extracellular polymeric substances. The mineralization with ACF-immobilized B. licheniformis ZXT is the optimal choice, with Mg:N:P=1:1:1 as the best mineralization ratio. This technology can achieve efficient purification of high nitrogen-phosphorus wastewater and recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus resources, thus having important application value in actual wastewater treatment.