Performance and Microbial Community Dynamics in Anaerobic Digestion of Waste Activated Sludge: Impact of Immigration

Juhee Shin, Si-Kyung Cho, Joonyeob Lee, Kwanghyun Hwang, Jae Woo Chung, Hae-Nam Jang and Seung Gu Shin
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Juhee Shin: Department of Energy Engineering, Future Convergence Technology Research Institute, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, Jinju, Gyeongnam 52725, South Korea
Si-Kyung Cho: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Dongguk University, Goyang, Gyeonggi-do 10326, South Korea
Joonyeob Lee: Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 37673, South Korea
Kwanghyun Hwang: Environmental Process Engineering Team, Global Engineering Division, GS E&C, Seoul 03159, South Korea
Jae Woo Chung: Department of Environmental Engineering, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, Jinju, Gyeongnam 52725, South Korea
Hae-Nam Jang: Department of Energy Engineering, Future Convergence Technology Research Institute, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, Jinju, Gyeongnam 52725, South Korea
Seung Gu Shin: Department of Energy Engineering, Future Convergence Technology Research Institute, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, Jinju, Gyeongnam 52725, South Korea

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Waste activated sludge (WAS) is a byproduct of municipal wastewater treatment. WAS contains a large proportion of inactive microbes, so when it is used as a substrate for anaerobic digestion (AD), their presence can interfere with monitoring of active microbial populations. To investigate how influent cells affect the active and inactive microbial communities during digestion of WAS, we operated model mesophilic bioreactors with conventional conditions. Under six different hydraulic retention times (HRTs; 25, 23, 20, 17, 14, and 11.5 d), the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and CH 4 production of the AD were within a typical range for mesophilic sludge digesters. In the main bacteria were proteobacteria, bacteroidetes, and firmicutes in both the WAS and the bioreactors, while in main archaeal methanogen group was Methanosarcinales in the WAS and methanomicrobiales in the bioreactors. Of the 106 genera identified, the estimated net growth rates were negative in 72 and positive in 34. The genera with negative growth included many aerobic taxa. The genera with positive growth rates included methanogens and syntrophs. In some taxa, the net growth rate could be positive or negative, depending on HRT, so their abundance was also affected by HRT. This study gives insights into the microbial dynamics of a conventional sludge anaerobic digester by distinguishing potentially active (growing) and inactive (non-growing, dormant) microbes and by correlating population dynamics with process parameters.

Keywords: sewage sludge; hydraulic retention time; high-throughput sequencing; real-time PCR; net growth rate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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