Influence of temperature on process efficiency and microbial community response during the biological removal of chlorophenols in a packed-bed bioreactor

Role of Biofilms in Waste Water Treatment

Biofilm cells have a different physiology than planktonic cells, which has been the focus of most research. Biofilms are complex biostructures that form on any surface that comes into contact with water on a regular basis. They are dynamic, structurally complex systems having characteristics of multicellular animals and multiple ecosystems. The three themes covered in this review are biofilm ecology, biofilm reactor technology and design, and biofilm modeling. Membrane-supported biofilm reactors, moving bed biofilm reactors, granular sludge, and integrated fixed-film activated sludge processes are all examples of biofilm reactors used for water treatment. Biofilm control and/or beneficial application in membrane processes are improving. Biofilm models have become critical tools for biofilm foundational research as well as biofilm reactor architecture and design. At the same time, the differences between biofilm modeling and biofilm reactor modeling methods are acknowledged.

Heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification by a novel Acinetobacter sp. TAC-1 at low temperature and high ammonia nitrogen

A novel strain was isolated from swinewastewater and identified as Acinetobacter sp. TAC-1 based on its phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics. The strain TAC-1 was found to have a high ability to metabolize ammonium-N under low temperature condition. The strain TAC-1 could remove approximately 94.6% of ammonium-N (400 mg/L), 93.3% of nitrate-N (400 mg/L) and 42.4% of nitrite-N (400 mg/L) at 5 °C. The functional genes nitrate reductase gene (narG) and nitrite reductase gene (nirK, nirS) were successfully amplified by qPCR, further evidencing the heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification capability of Acinetobacter sp. TAC-1. The transcriptome data confirmed that the membrane transport protein and unsaturated fatty acid dehydrogenase-related genes of the strain TAC-1 were significantly up-regulated at 5 °C, enabling it to survive low temperatures. The high nitrogen removal ability at 5 °C makes this strain have a good application prospect.

Mycotoxin Biodegradation Ability of the Cupriavidus Genus

The biodegradation and biodetoxification ability of five prominent mycotoxins, namely aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), ochratoxin-A (OTA), zearalenone (ZON), T-2 toxin (T-2) and deoxynivalenol (DON) of Cupriavidus genus were investigated. Biological methods are the most appropriate approach to detoxify mycotoxins. The Cupriavidus genus has resistance to heavy metals and can be found in several niches such as root nodules and aquatic environments. The genus has 17 type strains, 16 of which have been investigated in the present study. According to the results, seven type strains can degrade OTA, four strains can degrade AFB1, four strains can degrade ZON and three strains can degrade T-2. None of the strains can degrade DON. The biodetoxification was measured using different biotests. SOS-chromotest was used for detecting the genotoxicity of AFB1, the BLYES test was used to evaluate the oestrogenicity of ZON, and the zebrafish embryo microinjection test was conducted to observe the teratogenicity of OTA, T-2 and their by-products. Two type strains, namely C. laharis CCUG 53908T and C. oxalaticus JCM 11285T reduced the genotoxicity of AFB1, whilst C. basilensis DSM 11853T decreased the oestrogenic of ZON. There were strains which were able to biodegrade more than two mycotoxins. Two strains degraded two mycotoxins, namely C. metalliduriens CCUG 13724T (AFB1, T-2) and C. oxalaticus (AFB1, ZON) whilst two strains C. pinatubonensis DSM 19553T and C. basilensis degraded three toxins (ZON, OTA, T-2) and C. numazuensis DSM 15562T degraded four mycotoxins (AFB1, ZON, OTA, T-2), which is unique a phenomenon amongst bacteria.

Overview of strategies for enhanced treatment of municipal/domestic wastewater at low temperature

Biological wastewater treatment has been widely applied to municipal/domestic wastewater treatment systems. However, low temperature significantly decreases process performance. Furthermore, increasingly stringent effluent discharge standards are causing wastewater treatment facilities to have to improve and maintain contaminants removal under low temperature. Hence, this review aims to summarize strategies for enhanced treatment of municipal/domestic wastewater at low temperature. First, mechanisms of the effects of low temperature on wastewater treatment, including physiological characteristics, microbial growth rate, microbial activity, microbial community structure and sludge settleability, are analyzed. Strategies for performance intensifications at low temperature, mainly operational parameters regulation, bioaugmentation, biofilm technology, chemical phosphorus precipitation and application of novel process technologies, are then reviewed. Finally, future directions to address low temperature wastewater are highlighted. A special emphasis is given to the application of novel process/technology configurations to enhance process performance at low temperature in practical engineering.

High-efficient nitrogen removal by coupling enriched autotrophic-nitrification and aerobic-denitrification consortiums at cold temperature

This study paid particular attention to total nitrogen removal at low temperature (10°C) by excellent coupling of enriched autotrophic nitrifying and heterotrophic denitrifying consortiums at sole aerobic condition. The maximum specific nitrifying rate of the nitrifying consortium reached 8.85mgN/(gSSh). Further test in four identical lab-scale sequencing batch reactors demonstrated its excellent performance for bioaugmentation in potential applications. On the other hand, the aerobic denitrifying consortium could achieve a specific denitrifying rate of 32.93mgN/(gSSh) under dissolved oxygen of 1.0-1.5mg/L at 10°C. Coupling both kinds of consortiums was proved very successful for a perfect total nitrogen (TN) removal at COD/N of 4 and dissolved oxygen of 1.5-4.5mg/L, which was hardly reached by any single consortium reported previously. The encouraging results from coupling aerobic consortiums implied a huge potential in practical treatment of low-strength domestic wastewater (200-300mg/L COD) during wintertime.

Kinetics of phenol biodegradation at high concentration by a metabolically versatile isolated yeast Candida tropicalis PHB5

A highly tolerant phenol-degrading yeast strain PHB5 was isolated from wastewater effluent of a coke oven plant and identified as Candida tropicalis based on phylogenetic analysis. Biodegradation experiments with C. tropicalis PHB5 showed that the strain was able to utilize 99.4% of 2,400 mg l(-1) phenol as sole source of carbon and energy within 48 h. Strain PHB5 was also observed to grow on 18 various aromatic hydrocarbons. Haldane model was used to fit the exponential growth data and the following kinetic parameters were obtained: μ max = 0.3407 h(-1), K S = 15.81 mg l(-1), K i = 169.0 mg l(-1) (R (2) = 0.9886). The true specific growth rate, calculated from μ max, was 0.2113. A volumetric phenol degradation rate (V max) was calculated by fitting the phenol consumption data with Gompertz model and specific degradation rate (q) was calculated from V max. The q values were fitted with Haldane model, yielding following parameters: q max = 0.2766 g g(-1) h(-1), K S ' = 2.819 mg l(-1), K i ' = 2,093 (R (2) = 0.8176). The yield factor (Y X/S ) varied between 0.185 to 0.96 g g(-1) for different initial phenol concentrations. Phenol degradation by the strain proceeded through a pathway involving production of intermediates such as catechol and cis,cis-muconic acid which were identified by enzymatic assays and HPLC analysis.

Biodegradation potential of cyano-based ionic liquid anions in a culture of Cupriavidus spp. and their in vitro enzymatic hydrolysis by nitrile hydratase

Biodegradation tests with bacteria from activated sludge revealed the probable persistence of cyano-based ionic liquid anions when these leave waste water treatment plants. A possible biological treatment using bacteria capable of biodegrading similar compounds, namely cyanide and cyano-complexes, was therefore examined. With these bacteria from the genera Cupriavidus, the ionic liquid anions B(CN)₄(-), C(CN)₃(-), N(CN)₂(-) combined with alkaline cations were tested in different growth media using ion chromatography for the examination of their primary biodegradability. However, no enhanced biodegradability of the tested cyano-based ionic liquids was observed. Therefore, an in vitro enzymatic hydrolysis test was additionally run showing that all tested ionic liquid (IL) anions can be hydrolysed to their corresponding amides by nitrile hydratase, but not by nitrilase under the experimental conditions. The biological stability of the cyano-based anions is an advantage in technological application, but the occurrence of enzymes that are able to hydrolyse the parent compound gives a new perspective on future cyano-based IL anion treatment.

Pretreatment of landfill leachate using deep shaft aeration bioreactor (DSAB) in cold winter season

A pilot-scale deep shaft aeration bioreactor (DSAB) with 110 m in depth and 0.5m in diameter for the pretreatment of landfill leachate in winter was operated at a daily treatment scale of around 10-20 tons. It was found that the performance of the DSAB mainly depended on the inflow loads and concentrations of pollutants. NH3-N, TN, COD, TOC removals of 66-94%, 41-64%, 67-87%, 55-92% at organic load rate of 1.7-9.4 g CODL(-1)day(-1) and hydraulic retention time of 1-2d were obtained using DSAB, respectively, with the lowest ambient temperature of -3 °C. The effluent COD can be reduced to below 1000 mg/L, an acceptable level for advanced treatment using reverse osmosis system, when the influent COD was below 7000 mg/L at 10t/d. The EEM and GPC analysis implied that the non-biodegradable contaminants such as humic- and fulvic-like DOM dominated in the organic fractions of the effluent, which rendered the biological treatment ineffective. Compared with 20-40% removals obtained using traditional biological processes below 15 °C, DSAB showed a higher treatment efficiency for COD and NH3-N, even though at adverse conditions of poor carbon source, lower C/N ratio and high nitrite concentrations in the leachate of test.

The cold adaptability of microorganisms with different carbon source in activated sludge treating synthetical wastewater

The cold adaptability of microorganisms with different carbon source under 5°C was studied in activated sludge for treating synthetical wastewater. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis indicated contents of unsaturated fatty acids in cell membrane at 5°C were 13.66% and 24.96% higher for glucose and sodium acetate source than that at 25°C. PLFA biomarkers showed more Gram-negative bacteria enriched than Gram-positive bacteria in low-temperature activated sludge. The Shannon-Wiener diversity analysis demonstrated glucose fed reactor in low temperature had lower PLFA diversity index (1.21-1.30) than that at 25°C and sodium acetate source was reverse (1.08-0.69). The 16S rRNA analysis manifested certain microbes were considerably suitable for existence under cold environment, most of which belong to Gram-negative bacteria.

De novo genome project of Cupriavidus basilensis OR16

Here we report on the complete genome sequence of Cupriavidus basilensis OR16 NCAIM BO2487. The genome of strain OR16 contains 7,534 putative coding sequences, including a large set of xenobiotics-degrading genes and a unique glucose dehydrogenase gene that is absent from other Cupriavidus genomes.

High concentration powdered activated carbon-membrane bioreactor (PAC-MBR) for slightly polluted surface water treatment at low temperature

In this study, different concentrations of PAC combined with MBR were carried out to treat slightly polluted surface water (SPSW) at low temperature (10°C). Effects of PAC on the efficiencies of operation, treatment, and the performance of the process were investigated. It was found that the effluent quality, performance efficiency, resistance of shock load were all enhanced and chemical irreversible membrane fouling was reduced with increasing dosage of PAC in MBR. Only when the concentration of PAC which acted as biological carriers was high enough (i.g., 50 g/L), nitrification without initial inoculation in the filtration tank could start within 19 days and be completed within 35 days at 10°C. Fifty grams per liter PAC was the optimal dosage in MBR for stable and extended operation. Under this condition, mean removal efficiencies of ammonia nitrogen (NH(3)-N), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and UV(254) were 93%, 75%, and 85%, respectively.

Biotechnological applications of psychrophiles

Low temperature environments are numerous on Earth and have been successfully colonized by cold-loving organisms termed psychrophiles. Cold-adapted microorganisms can be used as cell factories for the production of unstable compounds as well as for bioremediation of polluted cold soils and wastewaters. Furthermore, their biomolecules, mainly proteins and enzymes characterized by a high catalytic activity and pronounced heat-lability, have already found useful applications in various domains such as molecular biology, medical research, industrial food or feed technologies, detergents or cosmetics.