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Effects of aeration strategy on the evolution of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and microbial community structure during sludge bio-drying

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Sludge bio-drying in which sludge is dried by means of the heat generated by the aerobic degradation of its own organic substances has been widely used for sludge treatment. A better understanding of the evolution of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and its degradation drivers during sludge bio-drying could facilitate its control. Aeration is one of the key factors that affect sludge bio-drying performance. In this study, two aeration strategies (pile I—the optimized and pile II—the current) were established to investigate their impacts on the evolution of DOM and the microbial community in a full-scale sludge bio-drying plant. A higher pile temperature in pile I caused pile I to enter the DOM and microbiology stable stage approximately2 days earlier than pile II. The degradation of easily degradable components in the DOM primarily occurred in the thermophilic phase; after that degradation, the DOM components changed a little. Along with the evolution of the DOM, its main degradation driver, the microbial community, changed considerably. Phyla Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were dominant in the thermophilic stage, and genus Ureibacillus, which was the primary thermophilic bacteria, was closely associated with the degradation of the DOM. In the mesophilic stage, the microbial community changed significantly at first and subsequently stabilized, and the genus Parapedobacter, which belongs to Bacteriodetes, became dominant. This study elucidates the interplay between the DOM and microbial community during sludge bio-drying.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Water Pollution Control and Management Technology Major Project of China (2012ZX07202-005) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21377151).

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Junya Zhang & Yuansong Wei

  2. Shenyang Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Xing Cai & Chunyan Shao

  3. School of Safety and Environmental Engineering, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing, 100070, China

    Lu Qi

  4. Shenyang Zhenxing Sludge Disposal Co., LTD, Shenyang, 110016, Liaoning, China

    Yang Lin, Jin Zhang & Yuanli Zhang

  5. College of Life Science and Technology of Guangxi University, Nanning, 530005, Guangxi, China

    Peihong Shen

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  1. Junya Zhang
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  4. Chunyan Shao
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  5. Yang Lin
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  6. Jin Zhang
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  7. Yuanli Zhang
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Correspondence to Yuansong Wei.

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Zhang, J., Cai, X., Qi, L. et al. Effects of aeration strategy on the evolution of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and microbial community structure during sludge bio-drying. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 7321–7331 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6640-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6640-z

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