Establishing a co-culture aggregate of N-cycle bacteria to elucidate flocculation in biological wastewater treatment.
Saved in:
| Title: | Establishing a co-culture aggregate of N-cycle bacteria to elucidate flocculation in biological wastewater treatment. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Parret, Laurens1 (AUTHOR), Simoens, Kenneth1 (AUTHOR), Horemans, Benjamin1,2 (AUTHOR), De Vrieze, Jo3,4 (AUTHOR), Smets, Ilse1 (AUTHOR) ilse.smets@kuleuven.be |
| Source: | Applied Microbiology & Biotechnology. 6/19/2025, Vol. 109 Issue 1, p1-14. 14p. |
| Subjects: | Batch reactors, Flocculation, Wastewater treatment, Alginic acid, Microbial communities |
| Abstract: | Biological flocculation is a complex phenomenon that is often treated as a black box. As a result, flocculation problems are usually remediated without knowledge of the exact causes. We show that it is feasible to exploit a model (N-cycle) consortium with reduced complexity to fundamentally study bioflocculation. Strong nitrifier microcolonies were formed during oxic/anoxic cycles in sequencing batch reactors, using alginate entrapment as a cell retention system. After the release of these aggregates into suspension, macroclusters with flocs of the denitrifier were observed. These results suggest that a living model of a full-scale activated sludge floc can be built through the use of this bottom-up approach. By eliminating shifts in the microbial community, the applied experimental conditions have a more direct effect on the observations. Key Points ∙ Studying flocculation with a model consortium is feasible ∙ Alginate entrapment leads to strong microcolony formation of nitrifiers ∙ FISH by itself is not suitable to study aggregation of a coculture [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Applied Microbiology & Biotechnology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Engineering Source |
|
Full text is not displayed to guests.
Login for full access.
|
|
| Abstract: | Biological flocculation is a complex phenomenon that is often treated as a black box. As a result, flocculation problems are usually remediated without knowledge of the exact causes. We show that it is feasible to exploit a model (N-cycle) consortium with reduced complexity to fundamentally study bioflocculation. Strong nitrifier microcolonies were formed during oxic/anoxic cycles in sequencing batch reactors, using alginate entrapment as a cell retention system. After the release of these aggregates into suspension, macroclusters with flocs of the denitrifier were observed. These results suggest that a living model of a full-scale activated sludge floc can be built through the use of this bottom-up approach. By eliminating shifts in the microbial community, the applied experimental conditions have a more direct effect on the observations. Key Points ∙ Studying flocculation with a model consortium is feasible ∙ Alginate entrapment leads to strong microcolony formation of nitrifiers ∙ FISH by itself is not suitable to study aggregation of a coculture [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 01757598 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00253-025-13522-1 |
