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Prokaryotic microbiota of recycled paper mills with low or zero effluent

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

The tendency in the paper industry is to close all water loops to save water. This leads to higher process temperatures and may increase the colloidal and dissolved material in the process circulation. Increase of nutrients in the water circuits may favor microbiological growth and fouling. In this paper the chemical and microbial compositions of water circuits and deposits were studied of two closed cycled paper/board mills, one mill totally closed (0 m3 waste water t−1), and the other low discharging (about 4 m3 t−1). The zero discharge mill accumulated high amounts (>10 g C L−1) of organic carbon in the circulation waters, about 40% of which composed of volatile acids (lactic, acetic, propionic and butyric acid). Water contents of sulfate, chloride, sodium and calcium increased to >1 g L−1 of each. q-PCR targeted on 16S rRNA genes indicated that the bacteria in water circuits were mainly viable cells. In both mills anaerobic growth (106–108  CFU mL−1) equalled or exceeded aerobic growth, with odor problem but no actual slime problem. The major part (40%) of all identifiable bacterial sequences were closest but yet distant (<96%) to Enterococcus cecorum and in the 4 m3 t−1 discharging mill also Bacillus thermoamylovorans and Bacillus coagulans. Slimes and deposits from the mills contained high amounts, ≥108 g−1, of archaean, but only the genus Methanothrix was identifiable from the cloned sequences. The findings indicate that closing the water circuits strongly limited diversity of the microbiota but allowed efficient mineralization of the dissolved and suspended matter.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Ashland Deutschland GmbH (L.K.Ö., S I., J.S.), Academy of Finland Center of Excellence grant Nr. 118637 (J.K., M.S.S.) and by Ph.D. scholarships from the graduate school for Applied Biosciences (ABS) (to J.P.) and EnSTe graduates school (to J.E.). We also thank Helsinki University Viikki Science Library for excellent information services, the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry Instrument Center for technical support, and Paulina Lankinen and Tuula Suortti for many kinds of help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Chemistry and Microbiology, Biocenter, University of Helsinki, P O. Box 56, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Charlotta Kanto Öqvist, Jukka Kurola, Jaakko Pakarinen, Jaakko Ekman & Mirja Salkinoja-Salonen

  2. Ashland Deutschland GmbH, Fütingsweg 20, 47805, Krefeld, Germany

    Charlotta Kanto Öqvist

  3. Ashland Nordic Oy, Viikinkaari 6, 00790, Helsinki, Finland

    Satu Ikävalko & Jaakko Simell

Authors
  1. Charlotta Kanto Öqvist
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  2. Jukka Kurola
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  4. Jaakko Ekman
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  7. Mirja Salkinoja-Salonen
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Correspondence to Mirja Salkinoja-Salonen.

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Kanto Öqvist, C., Kurola, J., Pakarinen, J. et al. Prokaryotic microbiota of recycled paper mills with low or zero effluent. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 35, 1165–1173 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-008-0396-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-008-0396-8

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