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Biological Phosphorus Removal During High-Rate, Low-Temperature, Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater

We report, for the first time, extensive biologically mediated phosphate removal from wastewater during high-rate anaerobic digestion (AD). A hybrid sludge bed/fixed-film (packed pumice stone) reactor was employed for low-temperature (12°C) anaerobic treatment of synthetic sewage wastewater. Success...

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Autores principales: Keating, Ciara, Chin, Jason P., Hughes, Dermot, Manesiotis, Panagiotis, Cysneiros, Denise, Mahony, Therese, Smith, Cindy J., McGrath, John W., O’Flaherty, Vincent
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4776080/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26973608
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00226
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author Keating, Ciara
Chin, Jason P.
Hughes, Dermot
Manesiotis, Panagiotis
Cysneiros, Denise
Mahony, Therese
Smith, Cindy J.
McGrath, John W.
O’Flaherty, Vincent
author_facet Keating, Ciara
Chin, Jason P.
Hughes, Dermot
Manesiotis, Panagiotis
Cysneiros, Denise
Mahony, Therese
Smith, Cindy J.
McGrath, John W.
O’Flaherty, Vincent
author_sort Keating, Ciara
collection PubMed
description We report, for the first time, extensive biologically mediated phosphate removal from wastewater during high-rate anaerobic digestion (AD). A hybrid sludge bed/fixed-film (packed pumice stone) reactor was employed for low-temperature (12°C) anaerobic treatment of synthetic sewage wastewater. Successful phosphate removal from the wastewater (up to 78% of influent phosphate) was observed, mediated by biofilms in the reactor. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis revealed the accumulation of elemental phosphorus (∼2%) within the sludge bed and fixed-film biofilms. 4′, 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining indicated phosphorus accumulation was biological in nature and mediated through the formation of intracellular inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) granules within these biofilms. DAPI staining further indicated that polyP accumulation was rarely associated with free cells. Efficient and consistent chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was recorded, throughout the 732-day trial, at applied organic loading rates between 0.4 and 1.5 kg COD m(-3) d(-1) and hydraulic retention times of 8–24 h, while phosphate removal efficiency ranged from 28 to 78% on average per phase. Analysis of protein hydrolysis kinetics and the methanogenic activity profiles of the biomass revealed the development, at 12°C, of active hydrolytic and methanogenic populations. Temporal microbial changes were monitored using Illumina MiSeq analysis of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences. The dominant bacterial phyla present in the biomass at the conclusion of the trial were the Proteobacteria and Firmicutes and the dominant archaeal genus was Methanosaeta. Trichococcus and Flavobacterium populations, previously associated with low temperature protein degradation, developed in the reactor biomass. The presence of previously characterized polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) such as Rhodocyclus, Chromatiales, Actinobacter, and Acinetobacter was recorded at low numbers. However, it is unknown as yet if these were responsible for the luxury polyP uptake observed in this system. The possibility of efficient phosphate removal and recovery from wastewater during AD would represent a major advance in the scope for widespread application of anaerobic wastewater treatment technologies.
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spelling pubmed-47760802016-03-11 Biological Phosphorus Removal During High-Rate, Low-Temperature, Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater Keating, Ciara Chin, Jason P. Hughes, Dermot Manesiotis, Panagiotis Cysneiros, Denise Mahony, Therese Smith, Cindy J. McGrath, John W. O’Flaherty, Vincent Front Microbiol Microbiology We report, for the first time, extensive biologically mediated phosphate removal from wastewater during high-rate anaerobic digestion (AD). A hybrid sludge bed/fixed-film (packed pumice stone) reactor was employed for low-temperature (12°C) anaerobic treatment of synthetic sewage wastewater. Successful phosphate removal from the wastewater (up to 78% of influent phosphate) was observed, mediated by biofilms in the reactor. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis revealed the accumulation of elemental phosphorus (∼2%) within the sludge bed and fixed-film biofilms. 4′, 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining indicated phosphorus accumulation was biological in nature and mediated through the formation of intracellular inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) granules within these biofilms. DAPI staining further indicated that polyP accumulation was rarely associated with free cells. Efficient and consistent chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was recorded, throughout the 732-day trial, at applied organic loading rates between 0.4 and 1.5 kg COD m(-3) d(-1) and hydraulic retention times of 8–24 h, while phosphate removal efficiency ranged from 28 to 78% on average per phase. Analysis of protein hydrolysis kinetics and the methanogenic activity profiles of the biomass revealed the development, at 12°C, of active hydrolytic and methanogenic populations. Temporal microbial changes were monitored using Illumina MiSeq analysis of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences. The dominant bacterial phyla present in the biomass at the conclusion of the trial were the Proteobacteria and Firmicutes and the dominant archaeal genus was Methanosaeta. Trichococcus and Flavobacterium populations, previously associated with low temperature protein degradation, developed in the reactor biomass. The presence of previously characterized polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) such as Rhodocyclus, Chromatiales, Actinobacter, and Acinetobacter was recorded at low numbers. However, it is unknown as yet if these were responsible for the luxury polyP uptake observed in this system. The possibility of efficient phosphate removal and recovery from wastewater during AD would represent a major advance in the scope for widespread application of anaerobic wastewater treatment technologies. Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-03-03 /pmc/articles/PMC4776080/ /pubmed/26973608 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00226 Text en Copyright © 2016 Keating, Chin, Hughes, Manesiotis, Cysneiros, Mahony, Smith, McGrath and O’Flaherty. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Keating, Ciara
Chin, Jason P.
Hughes, Dermot
Manesiotis, Panagiotis
Cysneiros, Denise
Mahony, Therese
Smith, Cindy J.
McGrath, John W.
O’Flaherty, Vincent
Biological Phosphorus Removal During High-Rate, Low-Temperature, Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater
title Biological Phosphorus Removal During High-Rate, Low-Temperature, Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater
title_full Biological Phosphorus Removal During High-Rate, Low-Temperature, Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater
title_fullStr Biological Phosphorus Removal During High-Rate, Low-Temperature, Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater
title_full_unstemmed Biological Phosphorus Removal During High-Rate, Low-Temperature, Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater
title_short Biological Phosphorus Removal During High-Rate, Low-Temperature, Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater
title_sort biological phosphorus removal during high-rate, low-temperature, anaerobic digestion of wastewater
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4776080/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26973608
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00226
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