Effect of sludge retention time on microbial succession and assembly in thermal hydrolysis pretreated sludge digesters: Deterministic versus stochastic processes

Effect of rhamnolipid on the performance of compound thermophilic bacteria agent pretreatment system for waste sludge hydrolysis

This study innovatively introduced rhamnolipid (RL) to compound thermophilic bacteria (TB) agent pretreatment system for further accelerating the waste sludge hydrolysis and substrates transformation. The results showed that combined pretreatment was beneficial for the sludge extracellular polymers (EPS) rupture and dissolved organic matters (DOM) release. In the optimal dosage of 40 mg/g SS RL, the activities of protease and α-glucosidase increased by 20.7 % and 33.3 % than that without RL addition, respectively. The addition of RL enhanced efficient contacts between hydrolases and organic substrates, and excitation emission matrix (EEM) spectrum revealed that combined pretreatment with 40 mg/g SS RL could achieve higher soluble microbial by-products occupancy (54 %) and lower fulvic acid-like substances (6 %) occupancy in DOM, promoting the waste sludge biodegradability. High organics availability conducted to more shifts in microbial community structure, compared with TB agent pretreatment, the relative abundance of genus Geobacillus and norank_f__Synergistaceae were enhanced by 29.08 and 0.33 times in combined pretreatment system, respectively, which was conducive to sludge hydrolysis and subsequent anaerobic fermentation process.

Biofilm application for anaerobic digestion: a systematic review and an industrial scale case

Biofilm is a syntrophic community of microorganisms enveloped by extracellular polymeric substances and displays remarkable adaptability to dynamic environments. Implementing biofilm in anaerobic digestion has been widely investigated and applied as it promotes microbial retention time and enhances the efficiency. Previous studies on anaerobic biofilm primarily focused on application in wastewater treatment, while its role has been significantly extended to accelerate the degradation of lignocellulosic biomass, improve gas-liquid mass transfer for biogas upgrading, or enhance resistance to inhibitors or toxic pollutants. This work comprehensively reviewed the current applications of biofilm in anaerobic digestion and focused on impacting factors, optimization strategies, reactor set-up, and microbial communities. Moreover, a full-scale biofilm reactor case from Norway is also reported. This review provides a state of-the- art insight on the role of biofilm in anaerobic digestion.

Using ozone nanobubbles, and microalgae to promote the removal of nutrients from aquaculture wastewater: Insights from the changes of microbiomes

Integrated aquaculture wastewater treatment systems (IAWTSs) are widely used in treating aquaculture wastewater with the aeration-microalgae unit serving as an important component. In this study, we artificially constructed an IAWTS and applied two aeration-microalgae methods: ordinary aeration or ozone nanobubbles (ONBs) with microalgae (Nannochloropsis oculata). The impact of N.oculata and ONBs on the removal performance of nutrients and the underlying micro-ecological mechanisms were investigated using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The results demonstrated that the combined use of ONBs and N.oculata exhibited superior purification effects with 78.25%, 76.59% and 86.71% removal of CODMn, TN and TP. N.oculata played a pivotal role as the primary element in wastewater purification, while ONBs influenced nutrient dynamics by affecting both N.oculata and bacterial communities. N.oculata actively shaped bacterial communities, with a specific focus on nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in the micro-environment remodeled by ONBs. Rare bacterial communities displayed heightened activity in response to the changes in N.oculata, ONBs, and nutrient levels. These findings provide a novel approach to improve the technological processes the IAWTS, contributing to the advancement of sustainable aquaculture practices by offering valuable insights into wastewater purification efficiency and micro-ecological mechanisms.

Groundwater chromate removal by autotrophic sulfur disproportionation

Chromate [Cr(VI)] contamination in groundwater is a global environmental challenge. Traditional elemental sulfur-based biotechnologies for Cr(VI) removal depend heavily on the synthesis of dissolved organic carbon to fuel heterotrophic Cr(VI) reduction, a bottleneck in the remediation process. Here we show an alternative approach by leveraging sulfur-disproportionating bacteria (SDB) inherent to groundwater ecosystems, offering a novel and efficient Cr(VI) removal strategy. We implemented SDB within a sulfur-packed bed reactor for treating Cr(VI)-contaminated groundwater, achieving a notable removal rate of 6.19 mg L-1 h-1 under oligotrophic conditions. We identified the chemical reduction of Cr(VI) via sulfide, produced through sulfur disproportionation, as a key mechanism, alongside microbial Cr(VI) reduction within the sulfur-based biosystem. Genome-centric metagenomic analysis revealed a symbiotic relationship among SDB, sulfur-oxidizing, and chromate-reducing bacteria within the reactor, suggesting that Cr(VI) detoxification by these microbial communities enhances the sulfur-disproportionation process. This research highlights the significance of sulfur disproportionation in the cryptic sulfur cycle in Cr(VI)-contaminated groundwater and proposes its practical application in groundwater remediation efforts.

Comprehensive study on pilot nitrification-sludge fermentation coupled denitrification system with extended sludge retention time

The sludge fermentation-coupled denitrification process, utilized for sludge reduction and nitrogen removal from wastewater, is frequently hindered by its hydrolysis step's efficacy. This study addresses this limitation by extending the sludge retention time (SRT) to 120 days. As a result, the nitrate removal efficiency (NRE) of the nitrification-sludge fermentation coupled denitrification (NSFD) pilot system increased from 67.1 ± 0.2 % to 96.7 ± 0.1 %, and the sludge reduction efficiency (SRE) rose from 40.2 ± 0.5 % to 62.2 ± 0.9 %. Longer SRT enhanced predation and energy dissipation, reducing intact cells from 99.2 % to 78.0 % and decreasing particle size from 135.2 ± 4.6 μm and 19.4 ± 2.1 μm to 64.5 ± 3.5 μm and 15.5 ± 1.6 μm, respectively. It also created different niches by altering the biofilm's adsorption capacity, with interactions between these niches driving improved performance. In conclusion, extending SRT optimized the microbial structure and enhanced the performance of the NSFD system.

Untangling the interplay of dissolved organic matters variation with microbial symbiotic network in sludge anaerobic fermentation triggered by various pretreatments

Various pretreatments are commonly adopted to facilitate dissolved organic matter (DOM) release from waste activated sludge (WAS) for high-valued volatile fatty acids (VFAs) promotion, while the interplay impact of DOM dynamics transformation on microbial population and metabolic function traits is poorly understood. This work constructed "DOM-microorganisms-metabolism-VFAs" symbiotic ecologic networks to disclose how DOM dynamics variation intricately interacts with bacterial community networks, assembly processes, and microbial traits during WAS fermentation. The distribution of DOM was altered by different pretreatments, triggering the release of easily biodegradable compounds (O/C ratio > 0.3) and protein-like substance. This alteration greatly improved the substrates biodegradability (higher biological index) and upregulated microbial metabolism capacity (e.g., hydrolysis and fatty acid synthesis). In turn, microbial activity modifications augment substance metabolism level and expedite the conversion of highly reactive compounds (proteins-like DOM) to VFAs, leading to 1.6-4.2 fold rise in VFAs generation. Strong correlations were found between proteins-like DOM and topological properties of DOM-bacteria associations, suggesting that high DOM availability leads to more intricate ecological networks. A change in the way communities assemble, shifting from stronger uniform selection in pH10 and USp reactors to increased randomness in heat reactor, was linked to DOM composition alterations. The ecologic networks further revealed metabolic synergy between hydrolytic-acidogenic bacteria (e.g., Bacteroidota and Firmicutes) and biodegradable DOM (e.g., proteins and amino sugars) leading to higher VFAs generation. This study provides a deeper knowledge of the inherent connections between DOM and microbial traits for efficient VFAs biosynthesis during WAS anaerobic fermentation, offering valuable insights for effective WAS pretreatment strategies.

Microbial community assembly in engineered bioreactors

Microbial community assembly (MCA) processes that shape microbial communities in environments are being used to analyze engineered bioreactors such as activated sludge systems and anaerobic digesters. The goal of studying MCA is to be able to understand and predict the effect of design and operation procedures on bioreactor microbial composition and function. Ultimately, this can lead to bioreactors that are more efficient, resilient, or resistant to perturbations. This review summarizes the ecological theories underpinning MCA, evaluates MCA analysis methods, analyzes how these MCA-based methods are applied to engineered bioreactors, and extracts lessons from case studies. Furthermore, we suggest future directions in MCA research in engineered bioreactor systems. The review aims to provide insights and guidance to the growing number of environmental engineers who wish to design and understand bioreactors through the lens of MCA.

Response of the soil microbial community to petroleum hydrocarbon stress shows a threshold effect: research on aged realistic contaminated fields

Introduction

Microbes play key roles in maintaining soil ecological functions. Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination is expected to affect microbial ecological characteristics and the ecological services they provide. In this study, the multifunctionalities of contaminated and uncontaminated soils in an aged petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated field and their correlation with soil microbial characteristics were analyzed to explore the effect of petroleum hydrocarbons on soil microbes.

Methods

Soil physicochemical parameters were determined to calculate soil multifunctionalities. In addition, 16S high-throughput sequencing technology and bioinformation analysis were used to explore microbial characteristics.

Results

The results indicated that high concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons (565-3,613 mg•kg^-1, high contamination) reduced soil multifunctionality, while low concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons (13-408 mg•kg^-1, light contamination) might increase soil multifunctionality. In addition, light petroleum hydrocarbon contamination increased the richness and evenness of microbial community (p < 0.01), enhanced the microbial interactions and widened the niche breadth of keystone genus, while high petroleum hydrocarbon contamination reduced the richness of the microbial community (p < 0.05), simplified the microbial co-occurrence network, and increased the niche overlap of keystone genus.

Conclusion

Our study demonstrates that light petroleum hydrocarbon contamination has a certain improvement effect on soil multifunctionalities and microbial characteristics. While high contamination shows an inhibitory effect on soil multifunctionalities and microbial characteristics, which has significance for the protection and management of petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil.

Feasibility of thermal hydrolysis pretreatment to reduce hydraulic retention time of anaerobic digestion of cattle manure

In this study, we investigated the potential of thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP) to reduce the hydraulic retention times (HRTs) in the anaerobic digestion (AD) of cattle manure (CM). The AD with THP (THP AD) outperformed the control AD by over 1.4 times in terms of methane yield and volatile solid removal, even under the same HRT conditions. Remarkably, even when the THP AD was operated with an HRT of 13.2 d, it performed better than the control AD operated with an HRT of 36.0 d. In THP AD, there was a shift in the dominant archaeal genus responsible for methane generation from Methanogranum (at HRT of 36.0 - 13.2 d) to Methanosaeta (at HRT of 8.0 d). However, decreasing HRT, and applying THP resulted in reduced stability, accompanied by increased inhibitory compounds, and changes in the microbial community. Further confirmation is required to assess the long-term stability of THP AD.

Enhanced hydrolysis/acidogenesis and potential mechanism in thermal-alkali-biofilm synergistic pretreatment of high-solid and low-organic-content sludge

Improving the anaerobic digestion (AD) of high-solid and low-organic-content sludge is imperative for sustainable waste activated sludge (WAS) management. Here, a thermal-alkali-biofilm pretreatment (TAB) was established to treat high-solid and low-organic-content sludge and compared with thermal and thermal-alkali methods. The results showed that TAB drastically improved WAS reduction, hydrolysis/acidogenesis efficiency, and biochemical methane potential. TAB possessed the lowest sludge particle size and the highest surface charge due to the stimulated proteolysis and WAS solubilization, supported by the protease activity test and secondary substrate identification. In addition, the biofilm assistance noticeably accelerated the elimination of autochthonous bacteria in WAS (e.g., Proteobacteria) and facilitated the enrichment of specialized fermentative microorganisms (e.g., Firmicutes) along with relevant functional genes, lying molecular foundation for the enhanced hydrolysis/acidogenesis in TAB. These findings could expand the application of biofilm in the AD of WAS and provide new insight into the pretreatment strategy of high-solid and low-organic-content sludge.

Quorum quenching enhanced methane production in anaerobic systems - performance and mechanisms

In our previous study, quorum quenching (QQ) bacteria can effectively enhance methane production in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) while mitigating membrane biofouling. However, the mechanism of such enhancement is unclear. In this study, we analyzed the potential effects from separated hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis steps. The cumulative methane production improved by 26.13%, 22.54%, 48.70% and 44.93% at QQ bacteria dosage of 0.5, 1, 5 and 10 mg _strain/g _beads, respectively. It was found that the presence of QQ bacteria enhanced acidogenesis step resulting in higher volatile fatty acids (VFA) production, while it had no obvious influence on hydrolysis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis steps. The substrate (glucose) conversion efficiency in acidogenesis step was also accelerated (1.45 folds vs control within first eight hours). The abundance of hydrolytic fermentation gram-positive bacteria and several acidogenic bacteria, such as Hungateiclostridiaceae, was promoted in QQ amended culture, which enhanced VFA production and accumulation. Although the abundance of acetoclastic methanogen Methanosaeta reduced by 54.2% on the 1st day of QQ beads addition, the overall performance of methane production was not affected. This study revealed that QQ had a greater impact on the acidogenesis step in the anaerobic digestion process, though the microbial community in acetogenesis and methanogenesis steps was altered. This work can provide a theoretical basis for using QQ technology to slow down the rate of membrane biofouling in anaerobic membrane bioreactors while increasing methane production and maximizing economic benefits.

The positive roles of influent species immigration in mitigating membrane fouling in membrane bioreactors treating municipal wastewater

The influence of influent species immigration (ISI) on membrane fouling behaviors of membrane bioreactors (MBRs) treating municipal wastewater remains elusive, leading to an incomprehensive understanding of fouling ecology in MBRs. To address this issue, two anoxic/aerobic MBRs, which were fed with raw (named MBR-C) and sterilized (MBR-E) municipal wastewater, were operated. Compared with the MBR-E, the average fouling rate of the MBR-C was lowered by 30% over the long-term operation. In addition, the MBR-E sludge had significantly higher unified membrane fouling index and biofilm formation potential than the MBR-C sludge. Considerably larger flocs size and lower soluble microbial products (SMP) concentrations were observed in the MBR-C than in the MBR-E. Moreover, the 16S rRNA gene sequencing results showed that highly diverse and abundant populations responsible for floc-forming, hydrolysis/fermentation and SMP degradation readily inhabited the influent, shaping a unique microbial niche. Based on species mass balance-based assessment, most of these populations were nongrowing and their relative abundances were higher in the MBR-C than in the MBR-E. This suggested an important contribution of the ISI on the assemblage of these bacteria, thus supporting the increased flocs size and lowered SMP concentrations in the MBR-C. Moreover, the SMP-degrading related bacteria and functional pathways played a more crucial role in the MBR-C ecosystem as revealed by the bacterial co-occurrence network and Picrust2 analysis. Taken together, this study reveals the positive role of ISI in fouling mitigation and highlights the necessity for incorporating influent wastewater communities for fouling control in MBR plants.

Medium-chain fatty acid production from thermal hydrolysed sludge without external electron donor supplementation

In this study, medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) generation from mixed sludge (including primary sludge and waste activated sludge) was investigated without additional electron donors (EDs). 0.5 g COD/L of MCFAs was produced and the in situ generated ethanol could serve as the EDs during the anaerobic fermentation of mixed sludge without thermal hydrolysis process (THP) pretreatment. THP increased the MCFA production by approximately 128% in the anaerobic fermentation. During 102 days of operation, the fermentation of THP pre-treated mixed sludge stably generated 2.9 g COD/L MCFAs. The self-generated EDs could not maximize MCFA production, and external addition of ethanol improved MCFA yield. Caproiciproducens was the dominant chain-elongating bacteria. PICRUST2 revealed that both fatty acid biosynthesis and reverse β-oxidation pathways could participate in MCFA synthesis, and ethanol addition could enhance the contribution of the reverse β-oxidation pathway. Future studies should focus on the improvement of MCFA production from THP-assisted sludge fermentation.

Sulfur disproportionation realizes an organic-free sulfidogenic process for sustainable treatment of acid mine drainage

Biological sulfidogenic processes (BSPs) have been considered effective biotechnologies for the treatment of organic-deficit acid mine drainage (AMD) and heavy metal recovery. However, high-rate sulfide production relies on the continuous addition of exogenous organic substrates as electron donors to facilitate dissimilatory sulfate reduction, which substantially increases the operational cost and CO₂ emission and also limits the wide application of BSPs in AMD treatment. In this study, we proposed a novel chemoautotrophic elemental sulfur disproportionation (SD) process as an alternative to conventional BSPs for treating AMD, in which sulfur-disproportionating bacteria (SDB) disproportionates sulfur to sulfide and sulfate without organic substrate supplementation. During the 393-day lab-scale test, we observed that the sulfur-disproportionating reactor (SDR) achieved a stable high-rate sulfide production, with a maximal rate of 21.10 mg S/L-h at an organic-substrate-free condition. This high rate of sulfide production suggested that the SD process could provide sufficient sulfide to precipitate metal ions from AMD. Thermodynamics analysis and batch tests further revealed that alkalinity rather than sulfate was the critical factor influencing the SD process, suggesting that the abundant sulfate present in AMD would not inhibit the SD process. The critical condition of SD in the SDR was therefore determined. Microbial community analysis showed that Dissulfurimicrobium sp. was the dominant SDB during the long-term operation regardless of dynamic sulfate and/or alkalinity concentrations, which provides evidence that SDB can be employed for sustainable and high-rate sulfide production for engineering purposes. A multi-stage AMD treatment system equipped with a SDR removed over 99% of the influent metals (i.e., Fe, Al, Zn, Cu, Pb) from AMD except for Mn. This study demonstrated that the novel SD process is a green and promising biotechnology for the sustainable treatment of organic-deficient metal-laden wastewater, such as AMD.

Synergistic effect of extracellular polymeric substances and carbon layer on electron utilization of Fe@C during anaerobic treatment of refractory wastewater

Nano zero-valent iron (NZVI) has been widely used to improve refractory wastewater treatment. However, the rapid dissolution of NZVI causes a waste of resources and an unstable bioaugmentation. Herein, to verify the essential role of slow release of NZVI on biological systems, a core-shell structured Fe@C composite was developed to demonstrate the long-term feasibility of Fe@C for enhancing azo dye biodegradation in comparison to a mixture of NZVI and carbon powder (Fe+C). The 150 days of long-term reactor operation showed that, although both Fe@C and Fe+C enhanced azo dye degradation, the former achieved a better performance than the latter. The strengthening effect of Fe@C was also more durable and stable than Fe+C. It may be due to the fact that the carbon layer of Fe@C could interact with extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) through physical adsorption and chemical bonding to form a stable buffer to regulate NZVI dissolution. The buffer layer could not only regulate the attack of H⁺ on NZVI to reduce its dissolution rate but also complex released Fe²⁺ and neutralize OH^- to alleviate the passivation layer formed on the NZVI surface. Moreover, microbial community analysis indicated that both Fe@C and Fe+C increased the abundance of fermentative bacteria (e.g., Bacteroidetes_vadinHA17, Propionicicella) and methanogens (e.g., Methanobacterium), but only Fe@C promoted the growth of azo dye degraders (e.g., Clostridium, Geobacter). Metatranscriptomic analysis further revealed that only Fe@C could substantially stimulate the expression of azoreductase and redox mediator (e.g., riboflavin, ubiquinone) biosynthesis involved in the extracellular degradation of azo dye. This work provides novel insights into the bioaugmentation of Fe@C for refractory wastewater treatment.

1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride Affects Anaerobic Digestion through Altering Organics Transformation, Cell Viability, and Microbial Community

1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl), an imidazolium-based ionic liquid, is considered the representative emerging persistent aquatic pollutant, and its environmental toxicity has attracted a growing concern. However, most of the investigations focused on monocultures or a single organism, with little information available on the complex syntrophic consortium that dominates the complex and successional biochemical processes, such as anaerobic digestion. In this study, the effect of BmimCl at environmentally relevant levels on glucose anaerobic digestion was therefore investigated in several laboratory-scale mesophilic anaerobic digesters to provide such support. Experimental results showed that BmimCl at 1-20 mg/L inhibited the methane production rate by 3.50-31.03%, and 20 mg/L BmimCl inhibited butyrate, hydrogen, and acetate biotransformation by 14.29%, 36.36%, and 11.57%, respectively. Toxicological mechanism studies revealed that extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) adsorbed and accumulated BmimCl through carboxyl, amino, and hydroxyl groups, which destroyed the EPSs' conformational structure, thereby leading to the inactivation of microbial cells. MiSeq sequencing data indicated that the abundance of Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, Bacteroides, and Methanothrix decreased by 6.01%, 7.02%, and 18.45%, respectively, in response to 20 mg/L BmimCl. Molecular ecological network analysis showed that compared with the control, the lower network complexity, fewer keystone taxa, and fewer associations among microbial taxa were found in the BmimCl-present digester, indicating the reduced stability of the microbial community.

Comparative analysis of floc characteristics and microbial communities in anoxic and aerobic suspended growth processes

A fully anoxic suspended growth process is an appealing alternative to conventional activated sludge (AS) due to considerable aeration reduction and improved carbon processing efficiency for biological nutrient removal (BNR). With development of the hybrid membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) technology, implementation of a fully anoxic suspended growth community in BNR facilities became practical. To better understand potential limitations with the elimination of aeration, we carried out microscopic examination and 16S rRNA gene-based microbial community profiling to determine how an anoxic suspended growth would differ from the conventional aerobic process in floc characteristics, microbial diversity, microbial temporal dynamics, and community assembly pattern. Fewer filamentous populations were found in the anoxic mixed liquor, suggesting easily sheared flocs. The anoxic microbial community had distinct composition and structure, but its diversity and temporal dynamics were similar to the conventional aerobic community. A variety of well-studied functional guilds were also identified in the anoxic community. The anoxic microbial community assembly was more stochastic than the conventional aerobic community, but deterministic assembly was still significant with a large core microbiome adapted to the anoxic condition. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Flocs developed under the anoxic conditions had less filamentous backbones, implying reduced flocculation capacity and easily sheared flocs. Knowledge about the ecophysiology of Thauera, Thiothrix, and Trichococcus can help achieve good properties of the anoxic flocs. A diverse microbial community sustainably adapted to the fully anoxic condition, containing a variety of filaments, denitrifiers, and PAOs. The anoxic microbial community displayed a similar degree of diversity and temporal dynamics compared to the aerobic counterpart. The anoxic community's assembly was more stochastic, so it may be less subject to changes in environmental variables.

High temperature shock threatens methane production via disturbing microbial interactions in anaerobic digestion

Operational strategies shape microbial interactions determining anaerobic digesting process, but it is unclear whether and how the microbial network properties impact gas generation, especially in the transitional stage after operations. This research examined how the high temperature shock affected microbial diversity and network traits connected with the biogas production in a swine manure-fed anaerobic digester. Rising temperature (from 35 °C to 50 °C) significantly reduced biogas and methane production (p < 0.001) in the transitional stage due to the syntrophic loss of Methanomicrobiaceae and Firmicutes affiliated families. The high temperature shock reduced network modularity and thus caused the system functioning loss. Furthermore, the methanogenic stability was disrupted by high temperature shock (reduced the abundance of Methanosphaera but increased the abundance of Methanoculleus), which may result in the subsequent dysbiosis with other syntrophic communities. These findings suggest that the increased temperature-induced high network complexity and stability, but microbial communities need more time to restore the microenvironment via establishing the interactions of keystone species.

Fate of antibiotic resistance genes and class 1 integrons during sludge treatment using pilot-scale anaerobic digestion with thermal hydrolysis pretreatment

This work evaluated the fate of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and class 1 integron gene in sewage sludge before and after pilot-scale thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP) and subsequent mesophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) treatment. Variables investigated include THP temperatures, feedstock types, and AD solids retention times. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to quantify the ARGs in feedstocks, THP and AD effluent. Results show that THP significantly (t test, p < 0.05) reduced the absolute abundances of most ARGs, with the reduction ranging from 0.03 to 3.09 log units. Rebound effects of ARGs in the subsequent AD were observed and were relevant with tested variables; shorter solids retention time (10 days) and higher THP temperature (165 ℃) can significantly reduce ARGs in AD effluent. These findings provide references about the effects of the THP and AD on the control of ARG spread from sewage sludge to environments.

Genome-centric metagenomics analysis revealed the metabolic function of abundant microbial communities in thermal hydrolysis-assisted thermophilic anaerobic digesters under propionate stress

The ecological roles of microbial communities and how they interact with each other in thermal hydrolysis process (THP) assisted thermophilic anaerobic digestion (THP-AD) reactors remain largely unknown, especially under propionate stress. Two thermophilic THP-AD reactors had methane yield of 240-248 mL/g VS_added, but accumulated approximately 2000 mg/L propionate. Genome-centric metagenomics analysis showed that 68 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) were recovered, 32 MAGs of which were substantially enriched. Firmicutes spp. dominated the enriched microbial community, including hydrolytic/fermentative bacteria and syntrophs. Methanogenic activities were mainly mediated by Methanosarcina sp. and Methanothermobacter spp. In addition to hydrogenotrophic methanogens, Thermodesulfovibrio sp. could also be a vital H₂ scavenger, contributing to maintaining low H₂ partial pressure in the bioreactors. The remarkable accumulation of propionate could be likely attributed to the weak syntrophic propionate-oxidizing activity or its absence. These findings advanced our knowledge about the mutualistic symbiosis of carbon metabolism in thermophilic THP-AD reactors.

Fungal community enhanced humification and influenced by heavy metals in industrial-scale hyperthermophilic composting of municipal sludge

The succession of fungal community and effects of heavy metals on fungi during industrial-scale hyperthermophilic composting of municipal sludge remain unclear. Results showed hyperthermophilic composting enhanced decomposition and humification of municipal sludge in the short terms, while heavy metal concentrations and speciation had no significant change with high copper and zinc levels (101-122 and 292-337 mg/kg, respectively) in compost samples. The fungal community and its ecological assembly displayed dynamic change during hyperthermophilic composting. Some thermophilic-resistant fungi, such as phylum Ascomycota and genera Candida, Aspergillus, Thermomyces and Petriella dominated in hyperthermophilic phase. Heavy metals served important effects on fungal community structure and functions during composting. Some fungal drivers (e.g., Thermomyces, Petriella and Schizophyllum) and keystone fungi (e.g., Candida and Pichia) might be thermophilic- and heavy metal-resistant fungi which played important roles in decomposition and humification of municipal sludge. This study reveals fungal community accelerating humification and its influencing factors during composting.

Responses of mesophilic anaerobic sludge microbiota to thermophilic conditions: Implications for start-up and operation of thermophilic THP-AD systems

Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been widely employed for wastewater and organic waste treatment, in which methanogenesis is highly driven by close microbial interactions among intricate microbial communities. However, the ecological processes underpinning the community assembly that support methanogenesis in such engineered ecosystems remain largely unknown, especially when exposed to challenging circumstances (e.g., high temperature, ammonium content). Here, eight AD bioreactors were seeded with four different inocula (two from full-scale mesophilic AD systems and the other two from lab-scale mesophilic AD systems), and were operated under thermophilic conditions (55 °C) for treating thermal hydrolysis process (THP) pre-treated waste activated sludge to investigate how mesophilic community responds to thermophilic conditions during the long-term cultivation. Results showed that the inocula collected from the full-scale systems were more resilient than that from the lab-scale systems, which may be primarily attributed to indigenous robust methanogens. As a result, the former efficiently generated methane which was predominantly contributed by Methanothermobacter and Methanosarcina (healthy AD ecosystem), while methanogenic activity was remarkably prohibited in the latter (dysfunctional AD ecosystem). Thermophilic environment was a strong selection force, resulting in the convergence of microbial communities in both the healthy and dysfunctional AD ecosystems. Deterministic processes predominated the community assembly regardless of AD ecosystem function, but stronger influences of stochastic processes were observed in dysfunctional AD ecosystems, which was likely attributable from the stronger effect of immigrants from the feedstock. As indicated by molecular ecological network analysis, the microbial network structures in the healthy AD ecosystems were more stable than those in the dysfunctional AD ecosystems. Although keystone taxa were different among the bioreactors, most of which played vital roles in organic hydrolysis/fermentation. To sum up, this study greatly improved our understanding of the relationships between microbiological traits and AD ecosystem function under thermophilic conditions, which could provide useful information to guide thermophilic AD (e.g., THP-AD) start-up and health diagnosis during operation.