Transcriptional responses of bacterial amoA gene to dimethyl sulfide inhibition in complex microbial communities

Biological treatment of N-methylpyrrolidone, cyclopentanone, and diethylene glycol monobutyl ether distilled residues and their effects on nitrogen removal in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant

Manufacturing processes in semiconductor and photonics industries involve the use of a significant amount of organic solvents. Recycle and reuse of these solvents produce distillate residues and require treatment before being discharged. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the biological treatment system in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant that treats wastewater containing distillate residues from the recycling of electronic chemicals. Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the optimal operational conditions for the full-scale wastewater treatment plant. To achieve good nitrogen removal efficiency with effluent ammonia and nitrate concentrations below 20 mg N/L and 50 mg N/L, respectively, it was suggested to control the ammonia concentration and pH of the influent below 500 mg N/L and 8.0, respectively. In addition, the biodegradability of N-methylpyrrolidone, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether, and cyclopentanone distillate residues from the electronic chemicals manufacturing process were evaluated under aerobic, anoxic, and anaerobic conditions. N-methylpyrrolidone and cyclopentanone distillate residues were suggested to be treated under anoxic condition. However, substrate inhibition occurred when using cyclopentanone distillate residue as a carbon source with chemical oxygen demand (COD) levels higher than 866 mg/L and nitrate levels higher than 415 mg N/L. Under aerobic condition, the COD from both N-methylpyrrolidone and cyclopentanone distillate residues could be easily degraded. Nevertheless, a negative effect on nitrification was observed, with a prolonged lag time for ammonia oxidation as the initial COD concentration increased. The specific ammonia oxidation rate and nitrate production rate decreased under high COD concentration contributed by N-methylpyrrolidone and cyclopentanone distillate residues. Furthermore, the biodegradability of diethylene glycol monobutyl ether distillate residue was found to be low under aerobic, anoxic, and anaerobic conditions. With respect to the abundance of nitrogen removal microorganisms in the wastewater treatment plant, results showed that Comammox may have an advantage over ammonia oxidizing bacteria under high pH conditions. In addition, Comammox may have higher resistance to environmental changes. Dominance of Comammox over ammonia oxidizing bacteria under high ammonia condition was first reported in this study.

Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus metabolic relationships and reaction mechanisms in SBBR processes in the plateau habitat

In this study, two laboratory-scale SBBR reactors were established in a plateau habitat. Using high flux sequencing, the SBBR process was compared by natural sediment and autotrophic sludge to characterize the functional modules and functional genes of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus metabolism under different working conditions and to analyze the reaction mechanism. The results showed that all the functional modules of carbon metabolism and nitrogen metabolism were found in the SBBR process, except for methane metabolism, which occurred at 25 °C in tank 2, the functional modules related to methane metabolism are enhanced at all working conditions. Except for methane metabolism, all functional genes in tank 2 are inhibited by different working conditions, whereas tank 1 shows a slight enhancement. The different working conditions in nitrogen metabolism demonstrate inhibition of functional modules and functional genes in both tanks. Oxidative phosphorylation was missing five functional modules, except for M00153, where only two genes, K00424 and K22501, are missing, all of the required genes are missing in the other four functional modules. Overall the different conditions demonstrated some inhibition in both reaction tanks of the SBBR process. It is preferable to use self-cultivated sludge for membrane acclimation when operating the SBBR process in a plateau habitat. The findings of this study can be used to further research microbial carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus metabolism mechanisms in SBBR processes in plateau habitats.

Molecular characterization of bacteria and archaea in a bioaugmented zero-water exchange shrimp pond

In the zero-water exchange shrimp culture pond maintained with the application of indigenous bioaugmentor, low levels of total ammonia–nitrogen were reported, indicating the relevance of indigenous microbial communities. Sediments (0–5 cm layer) were sampled from the pond (85th day) and the bacterial and archaeal communities; specifically, the ammonia oxidizers (ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, ammonia-oxidizing archaea, and anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria) in the sediment metagenome of the pond were analysed using the 16S rRNA and functional genes. Bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA genes showed the relative abundance of Delta-Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes groups performing sulphur respiration and organic matter degradation, archaeal groups of anaerobic sulphur respiring Crenarchaeotae, and chemolithoautotrophic ammonia oxidizers belonging to Thaumarchaeota. The presence of these diverse bacterial and archaeal communities denotes their significant roles in the cycling the carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur thereby bringing out efficient bioremediation in the bioaugmented zero-water exchange shrimp culture pond. Similarly, the functional gene-specific study showed the predominance of Nitrosomonas sp. (ammonia-oxidizing bacteria), Nitrosopumilus maritimus (ammonia-oxidizing archaea), and Candidatus Kuenenia (anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria) in the system, which points to their importance in the removal of accumulated ammonia. Thus, this study paves the way for understanding the microbial communities, specifically the ammonia oxidizers responsible for maintaining healthy and optimal environmental conditions in the bioaugmented zero-water exchange shrimp culture pond.

Effects of copper on biological treatment of NMF- and MDG-containing wastewater from TFT-LCD industry

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of copper on N-methylformamide (NMF)- and methyl diglycol (MDG)-containing wastewater treatment using batch experiments and a lab-scale anoxic-oxic (A/O) sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Batch experimental results indicated that aerobic degradation of NMF followed Monod-type kinetics. Copper inhibition on nitrification also followed Monod-type inhibition kinetics with copper-to-biomass ratio instead of copper concentration. Specific degradation rates of NMF and MDG under both aerobic and anoxic conditions decreased in the matrix of full-scale wastewater, and high copper dosage would further reduce the degradation rates. In the long-term presence of 0.5 mg/L copper, the A/O SBR could maintain stable and complete degradations of NMF and MDG, 95% of COD removal, and more than 50% of total nitrogen (TN) removal. High concentrations of copper spikes, including 40 mg/L and 110 mg/L, slowed down degradation rates for both NMF and MDG, but did not affect COD and TN removal efficiencies in the full 24 h-cycle operation. The long-term A/O SBR operation revealed that daily dosage of 0.5 mg/L copper was not detrimental to NMF/MDG degradations due to regularly wasting sludge, but 110 mg/L of copper spike obviously reduced NMF/MDG degradation rate although it could be recovered later by regularly wasting sludge and maintaining SRT at 20 days.

Biological treatment of DMSO-containing wastewater from semiconductor industry under aerobic and methanogenic conditions

This study evaluated biological treatment of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-containing wastewater from semiconductor industry under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. DMSO concentration as higher as 1.5 g/L did not inhibit DMSO degradation efficiency in aerobic membrane bioreactor (MBR), while specific DMSO degradation rate at different initial DMSO-to-biomass (S₀/X₀) ratios from batch tests seemed to follow the Haldane-type kinetics. According to the microbial community analysis, Proteobacteria decreased from 88.2% to 26% as influent DMSO concentration increased, while Bacteroidetes, Parcubacteria, Saccharibacteria increased. Within the Bacteroidetes class, Flavobacterium and Laribacter genus significantly increased from less than 0.05%-26.8% and 13.4%, respectively, which might both be related to the DMS degradation. Hyphomicrobium and Thiobacillus, known as aerobic DMSO and DMS degraders, instead, decreased at higher DMSO conditions. Under methanogenic conditions, batch results implied DMSO concentrations higher than 3 g/L could be inhibitory, while DMSO and COD removal achieved 100% and 93%, respectively, using a pilot-scale anaerobic fluidized bed membrane bioreactor (AFMBR) with influent DMSO below 1.5 g/L. Results of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis targeting on mcrA functional gene revealed that Methanomethylovorans sp. was dominant in AFMBR after 54 days of operation, indicating its importance on degrading DMS and mathanethiol (MT).

Effects of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) on nitrification inhibition as determined by SOUR, function-specific gene expression and 16S rRNA sequence analysis of wastewater nitrifying enrichments

The effect of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) on nitrification was examined with samples from nitrifying enrichment cultures using three different approaches: by measuring substrate (ammonia) specific oxygen uptake rates (SOUR), by using RT-qPCR to quantify the transcripts of functional genes involved in nitrification, and by analysis of 16S rRNA sequences to determine changes in structure and activity of the microbial communities. The nitrifying bioreactor was operated as a continuous reactor with a 24 h hydraulic retention time. The samples were exposed in batch vessels to Cr(III) (10-300 mg/L) and Cr(VI) (1-30 mg/L) for a period of 12 h. There was considerable decrease in SOUR with increasing dosages for both Cr(III) and Cr(VI), however Cr(VI) was more inhibitory than Cr(III). Based on the RT-qPCR data, there was reduction in the transcript levels of amoA and hao for increasing Cr(III) dosage, which corresponded well with the ammonia oxidation activity measured via SOUR. For Cr(VI) exposure, there was comparatively little reduction in amoA expression while hao expression decreased for 1-3 mg/L Cr(VI) and increased at 30 mg/L Cr(VI). While Nitrosomonas spp. were the dominant bacteria in the bioreactor, based on 16S rRNA sequencing, there was a considerable reduction in Nitrosomonas activity upon exposure to 300 mg/L Cr(III). In contrast, a relatively small reduction in activity was observed at 30 mg/L Cr(VI) loading. Our data that suggest that both Cr(III) and Cr(VI) were inhibitory to nitrification at concentrations near the high end of industrial effluent concentrations.

Physiological and transcriptional responses of nitrifying bacteria exposed to copper in activated sludge

Cu inhibition of gene transcription in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) were rarely studied simultaneously in activated sludge. In this study, the transcription of amoA (for AOB) and nxrB (for NOB), nitrification efficiencies, AOB and NOB respiratory rates, and Cu distribution were simultaneously investigated. Modeling the relationships among the aforementioned parameters revealed that in complex activated sludge systems, nitrification efficiency was an insensitive parameter for showing Cu inhibition. Respiration activities and gene transcription were sensitive to Cu and positively correlated with each other. The transcription of amoA and nxrB genes indicated that the Cu had different inhibitory effects on AOB and NOB. AOB were more susceptible to Cu toxicity than NOB. Moreover, the degree of Cu inhibition on ammonia oxidation was greater than on nitrite oxidation. The analysis and related modeling results indicate that the inhibitory actions of Cu on nitrifying bacteria could mainly be attributed to intracellular Cu. The findings from this study provide insight into the mechanism of Cu inhibition on nitrification in complex activated sludge systems.