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Microbial structure and chemical components of aerosols caused by rotating brushes in a wastewater treatment plant

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Abstract

Purpose

Bacterial community structure and the chemical components in aerosols caused by rotating brushes in an Orbal oxidation ditch were assessed in a Beijing municipal wastewater treatment plant.

Methods

Air samples were collected at different distances from the aerosol-generating rotating brushes. Molecular culture-independent methods were used to characterize the community structure of the airborne bacteria in each sample regardless of cell culturability. A clone library of 16S rDNA directly amplified from air DNA of each sample was constructed and sequenced to analyze the community composition and diversity. Insoluble particles and water-soluble ions emitted with microorganisms in aerosols were analysis by a scanning electron microscope together with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and ion chromatogram analyzer.

Results

In total, most of the identified bacteria were Proteobacteria. The majority of sequences near the rotating brushes (the main source of the bioaerosols) were Proteobacteria (62.97 %) with β-(18.52 %) and γ-(44.45 %) subgroups and Bacteroidetes (29.63 %). Complex patterns were observed for each sampling location, suggesting a highly diverse community structure, comparable to that found in water in the Orbal oxidation ditch. Accompany with microorganisms, 46.36 μg/m3 of SO 2−4 , 29.35 μg/m3 of Cl−, 21.51 μg/m3 of NO −3 , 19.76 μg/m3 of NH +4 , 11.42 μg/m3 of PO 3−4 , 6.18 μg/m3 of NO −2 , and elements of Mg, Cl, K, Na, Fe, S, and P were detected from the air near the aerosols source.

Conclusions

Differences in the structure of the bacterial communities and chemical components in the aerosols observed between sampling sites indicated important site-related variability. The composition of microorganisms in water was one of the most important sources of bacterial communities in bioaerosols. Chemical components in bioaerosols may provide a media for airborne microorganism attachment, as well as a suitable microenvironment for their growth and survival in the air. This study will be benefit for the formulation of pollution standards, especially for aerosols, that take into account plant workers’ health.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate Wenjie Ding for his help in sequence alignment and Dr. Watts for the English revision of the manuscript. We also appreciate the University of Georgia Stratigraphy Lab for providing the software (Analytic Rarefaction 1.3) in rarefaction calculations. The work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 51178451 and 51138009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Water Pollution Control Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Yunping Han, Lin Li, Junxin Liu & Mengzhu Zhang

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  1. Yunping Han
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  2. Lin Li
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  3. Junxin Liu
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  4. Mengzhu Zhang
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Correspondence to Lin Li.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Han, Y., Li, L., Liu, J. et al. Microbial structure and chemical components of aerosols caused by rotating brushes in a wastewater treatment plant. Environ Sci Pollut Res 19, 4097–4108 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-0885-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-0885-1

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