Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Evaluation of various waste substrates for biofilm formation and subsequent use in aerobic packed-bed reactor for secondary treatment of domestic wastewater

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Immobilization of bacterial cells on suitable substrates is of utmost importance in the secondary treatment of wastewater using fixed-film reactors. Therefore, screening of efficient and cheaper materials for bacterial surface immobilization was carried out. Eleven waste materials were used as substrates, packed in a column, and bacterial surface immobilization was carried out using cow dung slurry/MLSS mixture. All the chosen substrates were screened for bacterial immobilization/biofilm formation by standard bacterial enumeration technique. The substrate with the highest biofilm-forming ability was used for secondary treatment of raw domestic wastewater. The results showed that high-density polyethylene and aluminium foil sheets have poor immobilizing characteristics with 2.2 × 108 and 2.4 × 108 CFU/cm2 respectively, whereas jute fibres were observed to be the most efficient among the substrates with 5.1 × 1023 CFU/cm2. The column packed with jute fibres was used for wastewater treatment. Various physico-chemical parameters were analyzed before and after treatment and there was a significant reduction in major parameters after treatment. The bacteria-immobilized jute fibres showed maximum immobilization potential and were highly efficient in wastewater treatment, and therefore these findings offer immense promise in the synthesis of composite polymers for bacterial immobilization and subsequent secondary treatment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akpomie Olubunmi O, Ejechi Bernard O (2016) Bioremediation of soil contaminated with tannery effluent by combined treatment with cow dung and microorganisms isolated from tannery effluent. J Bioremediat Biodegrad 7(4):1–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonie RL (2018) Fixed biological surfaces-wastewater treatment: the rotating biological contactor. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • American Public Health Association (APHA) (2005) Manual standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 21st edn. AWWA, WPCF, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayangbenro AS, Olanrewaju OS, Babalola OO (2018) Sulfate-reducing bacteria as an effective tool for sustainable acid mine bioremediation. Front Microbiol 9:1986

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee A, Ghoshal AK (2017) Biodegradation of an actual petroleum wastewater in a packed bed reactor by an immobilized biomass of Bacillus cereus. J Environ Chem Eng 5(2):1696–1702

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bouabidi ZB, El-Naas MH, Zhang Z (2019) Immobilization of microbial cells for the biotreatment of wastewater: a review. Environ Chem Lett 17(1):241–257

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cai T, Chen L, Ren Q, Cai S, Zhang J (2011) The biodegradation pathway of triethylamine and its biodegradation by immobilized Arthrobacter protophormiae cells. J Hazard Mater 186:59–66

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chu YF, Hsu CH, Pavan KS, Lo YM (2009) Immobilization of bioluminescent Escherichia coli cells using natural and artificial fibers treated with polyethylenimine. Bioresour Technol 100:3167–3174

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De-Bashan LE, Bashan Y (2010) Immobilized microalgae for removing pollutants: review of practical aspects. Bioresour Technol 101(6):1611–1627

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Devi S, Sridhar P (2000) Production of cephamycin C in repeated batch operations from immobilized Streptomyces clavuligerus. Proc Biochem 36:225–231

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dickson AG (2010) The carbon dioxide system in seawater: equilibrium chemistry and measurements. In: Riebesell U (ed) Guide to best practices for ocean acidification research and data reporting. Office of the European Union, Washington, DC, pp 17–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Dufrêne YF (2015) Sticky microbes: forces in microbial cell adhesion. Trends Microbiol 23(6):376–382

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Feng Y, Racke KD, Bollag JM (1997) Use of immobilized bacteria to treat industrial wastewater containing a chlorinated pyridinol. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 47:73–77

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Górecka E, Jastrzębska M (2011) Immobilization techniques and biopolymer carriers. Biotechnol Food Sci 75:65–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Halecký M, Kozliak E (2020) Modern bioremediation approaches: use of biosurfactants, emulsifiers, enzymes, biopesticides, GMOs. In: Filip J, Cajthaml T, Najmanová P, Černík M, Zbořil R (eds) Advanced nano-bio technologies for water and soil treatment. Springer, Cham, pp 495–526

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Huang Y, Yang ST (1998) Acetate production from whey lactose using coimmobilized cells of homolactic and homoacetic bacteria in a fibrous-bed bioreactor. Biotechnol Bioeng 60:498–507

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kilonzo P, Bergougnou M (2012) Surface modifications for controlled and optimized cell immobilization by adsorption: applications in fibrous bed bioreactors containing recombinant cells. J Microbial Biochem Technol 4:22–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Kourkoutas Y, Bekatorou A, Banat IM, Marchant R, Koutinas AA (2004) Immobilization technologies and support materials suitable in alcohol beverages production: a review. Food Microbiol 21(4):377–397

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarova V, Manem J (2000) Innovative biofilm treatment technologies for water and wastewater treatment. In: Bryers JD (ed) Biofilms II: process analysis and applications. Wiley, New York, pp 159–206

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu H, Guo L, Liao S, Wang G (2012) Reutilization of immobilized fungus Rhizopus sp. LG04 to reduce toxic chromate. J Appl Microbiol 112:651–659

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lopez A, Lazaro N, Marques AM (1997) The interphase technique: a simple method of cell immobilization in gel-beads. J Microbiol Methods 30:231–234

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lupton FS (2009) U.S. patent no. 7,582,474. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Mallick N (2002) Biotechnological potential of immobilized algae for wastewater N, P and metal removal: a review. Biometals 15:377–390

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Malovanyy A, Trela J, Plaza E (2015) Mainstream wastewater treatment in integrated fixed film activated sludge (IFAS) reactor by partial nitritation/anammox process. Bioresour technol 198:478–487

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martins SCS, Martins CM, Fiúza LMCG, Santaella ST (2013) Immobilization of microbial cells: a promising tool for treatment of toxic pollutants in industrial wastewater. Afr J Biotechnol 12(28):4412–4418

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mrudula S, Shyam N (2012) Immobilization of Bacillus megaterium MTCC 2444 by Ca-alginate entrapment method for enhanced alkaline protease production. Braz Arch Biol Technol 55:135–144

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nerenberg R (2016) The membrane-biofilm reactor (MBfR) as a counter-diffusional biofilm process. Curr Opin Biotech 38:131–136

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nicolella C, Van Loosdrecht MCM, Heijnen JJ (2000) Wastewater treatment with particulate biofilm reactors. J Biotechnol 80:1–33

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nzila A, Razzak SA, Zhu J (2016) Bioaugmentation: an emerging strategy of industrial wastewater treatment for reuse and discharge. Int J Environ Res Public Health 13(9):846

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Pepper IL, Gerba CP, Gentry TJ, Maier RM (2011) Environmental microbiology. Academic Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Rodríguez F, Valero A, Carrasco E, García RM, Zurera G (2008) Understanding and modelling bacterial transfer to foods: a review. Trends Food Sci Technol 19:131–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pronk M, De Kreuk MK, De Bruin B, Kamminga P, Kleerebezem RV, Van Loosdrecht MCM (2015) Full scale performance of the aerobic granular sludge process for sewage treatment. Water Res 84:207–217

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rudenko RR, Vasilevich EE, Zhdanova GO, Chizhick KI, Topchiy IA, Stom DI (2018) The use of urban sewage sludge as a substrate in a microbial fuel cell. Int J Eng 7:277–280

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saleem MH, Ali S, Rehman M, Hasanuzzaman M, Rizwan M, Irshad S, Shafiq F, Iqbal M, Alharbi BM, Alnusaire TS, Qari SH (2020) Jute: a potential candidate for phytoremediation of metals: a review. Plants 9(2):258

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Siddiqui MF, Singh L, Maqbool F, Rahman Z, Rehman A, Adnan F, Qayyum S, Khan A (2020) Microbial biofilm cell systems for remediation of wastewaters. In: Hakeem KR, Bhat RA, Qadri H (eds) Bioremediation and biotechnology. Springer, Cham, pp 293–303

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sonune A, Ghate R (2004) Developments in wastewater treatment methods. Desalination 167:55–63

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Talabardon M, Scwitzguelbel JP, Peringer P, Yang ST (2000) Acetic acid production from lactose by anaerobic thermophilic coculture immobilized in a fibrous-bed bioreactor. Biotechnol Prog 16:1008–1017

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tikhomirova TS, Taraskevich MS, Ponomarenko OV (2018) The role of laboratory-scale bioreactors at the semi-continuous and continuous microbiological and biotechnological processes. Appl Microbiol Biot 102(17):7293–7308

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang L, Ridgway D, Gu T, Moo-Young M (2005) Bioprocessing strategies to improve heterologous protein production in filamentous fungal fermentations. Biotechnol Adv 23:115–129

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yang ST, Lo YM (1998) Production of cell-free xanthan gum fermentation broth by cell adsorption on fibers. Biotechnol Prog 14:259–264

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou L, Guiying L, Taicheng A, Jiamo F, Guoying S (2008) Recent patents on immobilized microorganism technology and its engineering application in wastewater treatment. Rec Pat Eng 2(1):28–35

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We express our sincere thanks to the management of Madras Christian College for providing us with the necessary facilities and infrastructure. We also thank the CMWSSB officials for helping us by providing the MLSS for the study.

Funding

This is a self-supported study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Madras Christian College, Chennai, India

    Suman Zimba, Thanikachalam Sathish Kumar & Polur Hanumantha Rao

  2. Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai, India

    Natarajan Mohan

Authors
  1. Suman Zimba
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thanikachalam Sathish Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Natarajan Mohan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Polur Hanumantha Rao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

SZ performed research, analyzed data, and wrote, reviewed and edited the paper. TSK performed research, and reviewed and edited the paper; NM performed research, and reviewed and edited the paper; and PHR designed the study, performed research, analyzed data and validated the findings, supervised research, and wrote, reviewed and edited the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Polur Hanumantha Rao.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

There are no conflict of interest among the authors.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zimba, S., Kumar, T.S., Mohan, N. et al. Evaluation of various waste substrates for biofilm formation and subsequent use in aerobic packed-bed reactor for secondary treatment of domestic wastewater. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 37, 25 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-020-02992-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-020-02992-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation