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Effect of azithromycin on enhancement of methane production from waste activated sludge

  • Bioenergy/Biofuels/Biochemicals
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

In the methane production from waste activated sludge (WAS), complex bacterial interactions in WAS have been known as a major contribution to methane production. Therefore, the influence of bacterial community changes toward methane production from WAS was investigated by an application of antibiotics as a simple means for it. In this study, azithromycin (Azm) as an antibiotic was mainly used to observe the effect on microbial changes that influence methane production from WAS. The results showed that at the end of fermentation, Azm enhanced methane production about twofold compared to control. Azm fostered the growth of acid-producing bacterial communities, which synthesized more precursors for methane formation. DGGE result showed that the hydrolysis as well as acetogenesis stage was improved by the dominant of B1, B2 and B3 strains, which are Clostridium species. In the presence of Azm, the total population of archaeal group was increased, resulting in higher methane productivity achievement.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Japan Student Services Organization for the scholarship of M. T. Nguyen during this study. This research was supported by the Research Center for Advanced Eco-fitting Technology of Kyushu Institute of Technology and the City of Kitakyushu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Functions Engineering, Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu, 808-0196, Japan

    Minh Tuan Nguyen, Toshinari Maeda & Hiroaki I. Ogawa

  2. Research Center for Advanced Eco-fitting Technology, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu, 808-0196, Japan

    Toshinari Maeda

  3. Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Mohd Zulkhairi Mohd Yusoff

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  1. Minh Tuan Nguyen
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  2. Toshinari Maeda
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  3. Mohd Zulkhairi Mohd Yusoff
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  4. Hiroaki I. Ogawa
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Correspondence to Toshinari Maeda.

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Nguyen, M.T., Maeda, T., Mohd Yusoff, M.Z. et al. Effect of azithromycin on enhancement of methane production from waste activated sludge. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 41, 1051–1059 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-014-1446-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-014-1446-z

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