Cold adaptation and replicable microbial community development during long-term low-temperature anaerobic digestion treatment of synthetic sewage
Keating, Ciara Hughes, D. Mahony, D. Cysneiros, T. Ijaz, U. Z. Smith, C. J. O'Flaherty, Vincent
Keating, Ciara
Hughes, D.
Mahony, D.
Cysneiros, T.
Ijaz, U. Z.
Smith, C. J.
O'Flaherty, Vincent
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Publication Date
2018-05-25
Type
Article
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Citation
Keating, C, Hughes, D, Mahony, T, Cysneiros, D, Ijaz, U Z, Smith, C J, & O'Flaherty, V. (2018). Cold adaptation and replicable microbial community development during long-term low-temperature anaerobic digestion treatment of synthetic sewage. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 94(7). doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiy095
Abstract
The development and activity of a cold-adapting microbial community was monitored during low-temperature anaerobic digestion (LtAD) treatment of wastewater. Two replicate hybrid anaerobic sludge bed-fixed-film reactors treated a synthetic sewage wastewater at 12 degrees C, at organic loading rates of 0.25-1.0 kg chemical oxygen demand (COD) m(-3) d(-1), over 889 days. The inoculum was obtained from a full-scale anaerobic digestion reactor, which was operated at 37 degrees C. Both LtAD reactors readily degraded the influent with COD removal efficiencies regularly exceeding 78% for both the total and soluble COD fractions. The biomass from both reactors was sampled temporally and tested for activity against hydrolytic and methanogenic substrates at 12 degrees C and 37 degrees C. Data indicated that significantly enhanced low-temperature hydrolytic and methanogenic activity developed in both systems. For example, the hydrolysis rate constant (k) at 12 degrees C had increased 20-30-fold by comparison to the inoculum by day 500. Substrate affinity also increased for hydrolytic substrates at low temperature. Next generation sequencing demonstrated that a shift in a community structure occurred over the trial, involving a 1-log-fold change in 25 SEQS (OTU-free approach) from the inoculum. Microbial community structure changes and process performance were replicable in the LtAD reactors.
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publisher DOI
10.1093/femsec/fiy095
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland