| Title | Enrichment of a K-strategist microbial population able to biodegrade p-nitrophenol in a sequencing batch reactor. | | Author(s) | Martín-Hernández M, Carrera J, Pérez J, Suárez-Ojeda ME | | Institution | Department of Chemical Engineering, Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria (ETSE), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. | | Source | Water Res 2009 Jun 6. | | Abstract | The biological treatment of a high-strength p-nitrophenol (PNP) wastewater in an aerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) has been studied. A specific operational strategy was applied with the main aim of developing a K-strategist PNP-degrading activated sludge. The enrichment of a K-strategist microbial population was performed using a non-acclimated biomass coming from a municipal WWTP as inoculum, and following a feeding strategy in which the PNP-degrading biomass was under endogenous conditions during more than 50% of the aerobic reaction phase. Hundred per cent of PNP removal was achieved in the whole operating period with a maximum specific PNP loading rate of 0.26gPNPg(-1)VSSd(-1). A kinetic characterization of the obtained PNP-degrading population was carried out using respirometry assays in specifically designed batch tests. With the experimental data obtained a kinetic model including substrate inhibition has been used to describe the time-course of the PNP concentration and specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR), simultaneously. The kinetic parameters obtained through optimization, validated with an additional respirometric test, were k(max)=1.02mgPNPmg(-1)CODd(-1), K(s)=1.6mgPNPL(-1) and K(i)=54mgPNPL(-1). The values obtained for the K(s) and k(max) are lower than those reported in the literature for mixed populations, meaning that the biomass is a K-strategist type, and therefore demonstrating the success of the operational strategy imposed to obtain such a K-strategist population. Moreover, our measured K(i) value is higher than those reported by most of the bibliographic references; therefore the acclimated activated sludge used in this work was evidently more adapted to PNP inhibition than the other reported cultures. | | Language | ENG | | Pub Type(s) | JOURNAL ARTICLE
| | PubMed ID | 19560183 |
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