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Extracellular enzymatic activity of two hydrolases in wastewater treatment for biological nutrient removal

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Due to the complex nature of the wastewater (both domestic and non-domestic) composition, biological processes are widely used to remove nutrients, such as carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorous (P), which cause instability and hence contribute to the damage of water bodies. Systems with different configurations have been developed (including anaerobic, anoxic, and aerobic conditions) for the joint removal of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. The goal of this research is to evaluate the extracellular activity of β-glucosidase and phosphatase enzymes in a University of Cape Town (UCT) system fed with two synthetic wastewaters of different molecular complexity. Both types of waters have medium strength characteristics similar to those of domestic wastewater with a mean C/N/P ratio of 100:13:1. The operation parameters were hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 10 h, solid retention time (SRT) of 12 days, mean concentration of the influent in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), and total phosphorus (TP) of 600, 80, and 6 mg/L, respectively. According to the results obtained, statistically significant differences have been found in the extracellular enzyme activities with the evaluated wastewaters and in the units comprising the treatment system in some of the cases. An analysis of principal components showed that the extracellular enzymatic activity has been correlated to nutrient concentration in wastewater, biomass concentration in the system, and metabolic conditions of treatment phases. Additionally, this research has allowed determining an inverse relationship between wastewater biodegradability and the extracellular enzyme activity of β-glucosidase and phosphatase. These results highlight the importance of including the analysis of biomass biochemical characteristics as control methods in wastewater treatment systems for the nutrient removal.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded with resources provided by Grupo de Investigación en Ingeniería y Gestión Ambiental (GIGA) associated to the School of Engineering of Universidad de Antioquia. Furthermore, authors would like to thank to the Environmental Studies Laboratory of Universidad de Antioquia for the support provided to achieve this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Ingeniería y Gestión Ambiental – GIGA, School of Engineering, Universidad de Antioquia, Cl. 67 No. 53-108 Of, 20-250, Medellín, Colombia

    Jorge Mario Berrio-Restrepo, Julio César Saldarriaga & Mauricio Andrés Correa

  2. Grupo de Geografía, Limnología y Modelación Ambiental – GEOLIMNA, School of Engineering, Universidad de Antioquia, Cl. 67 No. 53-108 Of, 20-403, Medellín, Colombia

    Néstor Jaime Aguirre

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  1. Jorge Mario Berrio-Restrepo
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  2. Julio César Saldarriaga
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  3. Mauricio Andrés Correa
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  4. Néstor Jaime Aguirre
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Correspondence to Jorge Mario Berrio-Restrepo.

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Berrio-Restrepo, J.M., Saldarriaga, J.C., Correa, M.A. et al. Extracellular enzymatic activity of two hydrolases in wastewater treatment for biological nutrient removal. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 101, 7385–7396 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-017-8423-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-017-8423-1

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