Moving bed biofilm reactor developed with special microbial seed for denitrification of high nitrate containing wastewater

Patel, Roshni J.; Patel, Upendra D.; Nerurkar, Anuradha S.

doi:10.1007/s11274-021-03035-0

Original Paper
Published: 22 March 2021

Moving bed biofilm reactor developed with special microbial seed for denitrification of high nitrate containing wastewater

Roshni J. Patel¹,
Upendra D. Patel² &
Anuradha S. Nerurkar ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6674-4032¹

World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology volume 37, Article number: 68 (2021) Cite this article

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Abstract

Biological denitrification is the most promising alternative approach for the removal of nitrate from wastewater. MBBR inoculated with activated sludge is a widely studied approach, but very few studies have focused on the bioaugmentation of biofilm forming bacteria in MBBR. Our study revealed that the use of special microbial seed of biofilm forming denitrifying bacteria Diaphorobacter sp. R4, Pannonibacter sp. V5, Thauera sp. V9, Pseudomonas sp.V11, and Thauera sp.V14 to form biofilm on carriers enhanced nitrate removal performance of developed MBBR. Various process parameters C/N ratio 0.3, HRT 3 h at Nitrate loading 2400 mg L⁻¹, Filling ratio 20%, operated with Pall ring carrier were optimized to achieve highest nitrate removal. After 300 days of continuous operation results of whole genome metagenomic studies showed that Thauera spp. were the most dominant and key contributor to the denitrification of nitrate containing wastewater and the reactor was totally conditioned for denitrification. Overall, findings suggest that bench-scale MBBR developed with biofilm forming denitrifying microbial seed accelerated the denitrification process; therefore in conclusion it is suggested as one of the best suitable and effective approach for removal of nitrate from wastewater.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), (Grant No. BT/PR15531/BCE/8/1156/2016) GOI for fellowship, and Department of Science and Technology, GOI, FIST programme for instrumentation facility.

Funding

The authors acknowledge the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), (Grant No.BT/PR15531/BCE/8/1156/2016) GOI for fellowship, and Department of Science and Technology, GOI, FIST programme for instrumentation facility.

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Affiliations

Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology Centre, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, 390002, India
Roshni J. Patel & Anuradha S. Nerurkar
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, 390001, India
Upendra D. Patel

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Roshni J. Patel
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Upendra D. Patel
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Anuradha S. Nerurkar
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Contributions

Conceptualization & design of experiments—RJP & ASN, Performance of experiments—RJP, Design of Reactor—UDP, Reagents/Materials/Equipments—ASN, Manuscript writing, analysis & discussion—RJP & ASN.

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Correspondence to Anuradha S. Nerurkar.

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Patel, R.J., Patel, U.D. & Nerurkar, A.S. Moving bed biofilm reactor developed with special microbial seed for denitrification of high nitrate containing wastewater. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 37, 68 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-021-03035-0

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Received: 24 January 2021
Accepted: 08 March 2021
Published: 22 March 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-021-03035-0

Keywords

Denitrification
Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR)
Nitrate removal
Special microbial seed
Biofilm forming bacteria
Bioaugmentation