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Pedroza-Camacho LD, Ospina-Sánchez PA, Romero-Perdomo FA, Infante-González NG, Paredes-Céspedes DM, Quevedo-Hidalgo B, Gutiérrez-Romero V, Rivera-Hoyos CM, Pedroza-Rodríguez AM. Wastewater treatment from a science faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic by using ammonium-oxidising and heterotrophic bacteria. 3 Biotech 2024; 14:129. [PMID: 38601881 PMCID: PMC11003938 DOI: 10.1007/s13205-024-03961-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
During and after the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the use of personal care products and disinfectants increased in universities worldwide. Among these, quaternary ammonium-based products stand out; these compounds and their intermediates caused substantial changes in the chemical composition of the wastewater produced by these institutions. For this reason, improvements and environmentally sustainable biological alternatives were introduced in the existing treatment systems so that these institutions could continue their research and teaching activities. For this reason, the objective of this study was to develop an improved culture medium to cultivate ammonium oxidising bacteria (AOB) to increase the biomass and use them in the treatment of wastewater produced in a faculty of sciences in Bogotá, D.C., Colombia. A Plackett Burman Experimental Design (PBED) and growth curves served for oligotrophic culture medium, and production conditions improved for the AOB. Finally, these bacteria were used with total heterotrophic bacteria (THB) for wastewater treatment in a pilot plant. Modification of base ammonium broth and culture conditions (6607 mg L-1 of (NH4)2SO4, 84 mg L-1 CaCO3, 40 mg L-1 MgSO4·7H2O, 40 mg L-1 CaCl2·2H2O and 200 mg L-1 KH2PO4, 10% (w/v) inoculum, no copper addition, pH 7.0 ± 0.2, 200 r.p.m., 30 days) favoured the growth of Nitrosomonas europea, Nitrosococcus oceani, and Nitrosospira multiformis with values of 8.23 ± 1.9, 7.56 ± 0.7 and 4.2 ± 0.4 Log10 CFU mL-1, respectively. NO2- production was 0.396 ± 0.0264, 0.247 ± 0.013 and 0.185 ± 0.003 mg L-1 for Nitrosomonas europea, Nitrosococcus oceani and Nitrosospira multiformis. After the 5-day wastewater treatment (WW) by co-inoculating the three studied bacteria in the wastewater (with their self-microorganisms), the concentrations of AOB and THB were 5.92 and 9.3 Log10 CFU mL-1, respectively. These values were related to the oxidative decrease of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), (39.5 mg L-1), Ammonium ion (NH4+), (6.5 mg L-1) Nitrite (NO2-), (2.0 mg L-1) and Nitrate (NO3-), (1.5 mg L-1), respectively in the five days of treatment. It was concluded, with the improvement of a culture medium and production conditions for three AOB through biotechnological strategies at the laboratory scale, being a promising alternative to bio-augment of the biomass of the studied bacteria under controlled conditions that allow the aerobic removal of COD and nitrogen cycle intermediates present in the studied wastewater. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-024-03961-4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas D. Pedroza-Camacho
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Ambiental y Suelos, Unidad de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (UNIDIA), Grupo de Biotecnología Ambiental e Industrial (GBAI), Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Carrera 7ma No 43-82, Edifício 50 Lab. 106, P.O. Box 110-23, Bogotá, DC Colombia
| | - Paula A. Ospina-Sánchez
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Ambiental y Suelos, Unidad de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (UNIDIA), Grupo de Biotecnología Ambiental e Industrial (GBAI), Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Carrera 7ma No 43-82, Edifício 50 Lab. 106, P.O. Box 110-23, Bogotá, DC Colombia
| | - Felipe A. Romero-Perdomo
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Ambiental y Suelos, Unidad de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (UNIDIA), Grupo de Biotecnología Ambiental e Industrial (GBAI), Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Carrera 7ma No 43-82, Edifício 50 Lab. 106, P.O. Box 110-23, Bogotá, DC Colombia
| | - Nury G. Infante-González
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Ambiental y Suelos, Unidad de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (UNIDIA), Grupo de Biotecnología Ambiental e Industrial (GBAI), Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Carrera 7ma No 43-82, Edifício 50 Lab. 106, P.O. Box 110-23, Bogotá, DC Colombia
| | - Diana M. Paredes-Céspedes
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Ambiental y Suelos, Unidad de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (UNIDIA), Grupo de Biotecnología Ambiental e Industrial (GBAI), Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Carrera 7ma No 43-82, Edifício 50 Lab. 106, P.O. Box 110-23, Bogotá, DC Colombia
| | - Balkys Quevedo-Hidalgo
- Laboratorio de Biotecnología Aplicada, Grupo de Biotecnología Ambiental e Industrial (GBAI), Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, P.O. Box 110-23, Bogotá, DC Colombia
| | | | - Claudia M. Rivera-Hoyos
- Laboratorio de Biotecnología Molecular, Grupo de Biotecnología Ambiental e Industrial (GBAI), Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, P.O. Box 110-23, Bogotá, DC Colombia
| | - Aura M. Pedroza-Rodríguez
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Ambiental y Suelos, Unidad de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (UNIDIA), Grupo de Biotecnología Ambiental e Industrial (GBAI), Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Carrera 7ma No 43-82, Edifício 50 Lab. 106, P.O. Box 110-23, Bogotá, DC Colombia
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