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Implementation of the sludge biotic index in a petrochemical WWTP in Brazil: improving operational control with traditional methods

  • Environmental Microbiology
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

Microbiological analysis of activated sludge is an important tool for monitoring wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The utilization of the sludge biotic index (SBI) provides helpful information in examining the quality of biological treatment process and has been tested for several different systems. Although its utilization has been increasing, it is still not widespread, especially in Brazil. Also, its applicability has been considered limited for some particular systems. Thus, it becomes important to evaluate the relations among operational and biological parameters of each WWTP in order to characterize the system and its variations. In this work, microscopic analysis were performed once a week for 1 year (n = 54) and the results were compared to the physicochemical, operational parameters and efficiency of the plant along the period. The four seasons were comprised and analyzed, as we cannot neglect the influence of environmental changes in this subtropical region. Not only had we found a strong influence of the evaluated parameters on the structure of the biological community but there is also a good correspondence of SBI with the performance of the WWTP. More importantly, including microscopic analysis in the operational routine made it possible to notice even the slightest changes in the biological community that were not enough to diminish the SBI classification of the sludge, but were satisfactorily informative to show in advance to operators when to take corrective actions about an increase of COD and BOD in the influent and when it was necessary to discard the exceeding sludge.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Companhia Riograndense de Saneamento (CORSAN), for providing samples and laboratory equipment for the realization of this study and Renato Mallmann Filho for helping reviewing the language. All authors have agreed to submit this manuscript to the “Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology”.

Ethical standards

The authors declare that the experiments comply with the current Brazilian laws.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Superintendence for the Treatment of Wastewater, Companhia Riograndense de Saneamento (SITEL/CORSAN), BR 386, km 419, Via 3, Polo Petroquímico do Sul, Bairro Bom Jardim, Triunfo, RS, CEP 95.583-000, Brazil

    Ana Lusia Leal, Tatiane Strogulski Flores, Aline Scherer de Alves & Julio Cesar Macedo

  2. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Unisinos, Av. Unisinos, 950, São Leopoldo, RS, CEP 93.022-000, Brazil

    Ana Lusia Leal & Victor Hugo Valiati

  3. Laboratory of Ecology and Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems, Unisinos, Av. Unisinos, 950, São Leopoldo, RS, CEP 93.022-000, Brazil

    Marina Schmidt Dalzochio

Authors
  1. Ana Lusia Leal
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  2. Marina Schmidt Dalzochio
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  3. Tatiane Strogulski Flores
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  4. Aline Scherer de Alves
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  5. Julio Cesar Macedo
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  6. Victor Hugo Valiati
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ana Lusia Leal.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Online Resource 1. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) of the relationship between physicochemical/operational parameters and key groups used for sludge biotic index. Testate amoeba, free-swimming ciliates, and crawling ciliates are grouped in the center, while other groups are located far from the environmental variables, indicating that they are not influenced by the parameters evaluated. pH potential of hydrogen, DO dissolved oxygen, COD chemical oxygen demand.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 190 kb)

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Leal, A.L., Dalzochio, M.S., Flores, T.S. et al. Implementation of the sludge biotic index in a petrochemical WWTP in Brazil: improving operational control with traditional methods. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 40, 1415–1422 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-013-1354-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-013-1354-7

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