The autotrophic nitrogen removal process in the granular sludge bed reactor (GSB-ANR process) is a new and promising biotechnology for nitrogen removal from wastewater, which requires single reactor, simple operation and inorganic carbon. The results showed that the GSB-ANR process could be successfully started up with nitrifying granular sludge as inoculum. The volumetric nitrogen loading rate and the volumetric nitrogen removal rate reached 5.44 and 2.57 kg N m(-3) day(-1), respectively, which were significantly higher than the level reported for the autotrophic nitrogen removal processes in single reactor. The predominant functional microorganisms were from Planctomycetes and Nitrosomonas. The excellent performance of GSB-ANR process was ascribed to: (a) The high activities of aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX) bacteria; (b) the good settlability of the granular sludge; (c) the suitable DO concentration that satisfied the oxygen requirement of AOB and prevented ANAMMOX bacteria from oxygen inhibition. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.