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Application of Thermophilic Bacteria for the Treatment of Municipal Wastewaters

  • Research Article-Biological Sciences
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Abstract

Wastewater treatment process that utilizes bacteria and other microorganisms to decompose organic substances is a complex process and not fully understood due to the large variabilities of the treatment conditions. There is a dearth of studies on the role of thermophilic bacteria in the treatment of domestic sewage. Therefore, this study aims to assess the efficiency of thermophilic bacteria in wastewater treatment. Four different strains of thermophilic bacteria were used at two different temperatures, 50 and 55 °C. Authentic sewage samples collected from a local Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) were used for this purpose. Results of the study revealed that better performance of the thermophilic bacteria was observed at 50 °C compared with the performance at 55 °C. At 55 °C, the TOC removal rate reached 90%, whereas it reached 84% at 55 °C. In addition, the removal of nitrogen at 50 °C reached a value of 93%, whereas it reached 74% at 55 °C. Furthermore, the removal rate of phosphorus at 55 °C reached 36%, whereas it reached 69% at 50 °C or approximately twice the removal at 55 °C. The study confirms the efficiency of thermophilic bacteria in treating authentic wastewater prior to discharge to the environment.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the deanship of research at KFUPM for the financial support of this work under the project number DF181033.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioengineering, College of Materials and Sciences, King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Sami Al-rasheedi & Amjad Khalil

  2. Geosciences Department, College of Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences, King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Bassam Tawabini

  3. Center for Environment & Water, Research Institute, King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Mazen Nazal

Authors
  1. Sami Al-rasheedi
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  2. Bassam Tawabini
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  3. Mazen Nazal
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  4. Amjad Khalil
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Correspondence to Amjad Khalil.

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Al-rasheedi, S., Tawabini, B., Nazal, M. et al. Application of Thermophilic Bacteria for the Treatment of Municipal Wastewaters. Arab J Sci Eng 47, 6881–6888 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-021-06518-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-021-06518-2

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