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Performance and microbial community composition dynamics of aerobic granular sludge from sequencing batch bubble column reactors operated at 20 °C, 30 °C, and 35 °C

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology volume 87, pages 1555–1568 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Two bubble column sequencing batch reactors fed with an artificial wastewater were operated at 20 °C, 30 °C, and 35 °C. In a first stage, stable granules were obtained at 20 °C, whereas fluffy structures were observed at 30 °C. Molecular analysis revealed high abundance of the operational taxonomic unit 208 (OTU 208) affiliating with filamentous bacteria Leptothrix spp. at 30 °C, an OTU much less abundant at 20 °C. The granular sludge obtained at 20 °C was used for the second stage during which one reactor was maintained at 20 °C and the second operated at 30 °C and 35 °C after prior gradual increase of temperature. Aerobic granular sludge with similar physical properties developed in both reactors but it had different nutrient elimination performances and microbial communities. At 20 °C, acetate was consumed during anaerobic feeding, and biological phosphorous removal was observed when Rhodocyclaceae-affiliating OTU 214 was present. At 30 °C and 35 °C, acetate was mainly consumed during aeration and phosphorous removal was insignificant. OTU 214 was almost absent but the Gammaproteobacteria-affiliating OTU 239 was more abundant than at 20 °C. Aerobic granular sludge at all temperatures contained abundantly the OTUs 224 and 289 affiliating with Sphingomonadaceae indicating that this bacterial family played an important role in maintaining stable granular structures.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Marc Deront and Jean-Pierre Kradolfer for the excellent technical assistance in the reactor construction and operation, respectively.

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Author notes

  1. Sirous Ebrahimi & Maryam Hosseini

    Present address: Department of Chemical Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

  2. Pierre Rossi

    Present address: EPFL ENAC IIE CEL, Station 2, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

Affiliations

  1. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Sirous Ebrahimi, Sébastien Gabus, Emmanuelle Rohrbach-Brandt, Maryam Hosseini, Pierre Rossi, Julien Maillard & Christof Holliger

  2. EPFL ENAC IIE LBE, Station 6, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Christof Holliger

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  1. Sirous Ebrahimi
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  2. Sébastien Gabus
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  4. Maryam Hosseini
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  5. Pierre Rossi
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  7. Christof Holliger
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Correspondence to Christof Holliger.

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Ebrahimi, S., Gabus, S., Rohrbach-Brandt, E. et al. Performance and microbial community composition dynamics of aerobic granular sludge from sequencing batch bubble column reactors operated at 20 °C, 30 °C, and 35 °C. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 87, 1555–1568 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2621-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2621-4

Keywords

  • Wastewater treatment
  • Nutrient removal
  • Biological dephosphatation
  • Aerobic granular sludge