• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.110-121
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• 2022

The effluents from industries processing vegetable oils are extremely rich in sulfates, often exceeding the maximum concentration allowed to release them to the environment. Biological sulfate reduction is a promising alternative for the removal of sulfates in this type of wastewater, which has other particularities such as an acidic pH. The ability to reduce sulfates has been widely described for a particular bacterial group (SRB: sulfate-reducing bacteria), although the reports describing its application for the treatment of sulfate-rich industrial wastewaters are scarce. In this work, we describe the use of a natural SRB-based consortium able to remove above 30% of sulfates in the wastewater from one of the largest edible oil industries in Peru. Metataxonomic analysis was used to analyse the interdependencies established between SRB and the native microbiota present in the wastewater samples, and the performance of the consortium was quantified for different sulfate concentrations in laboratory-scale reactors. Our results pave the way towards the use of this consortium as a low-cost, sustainable alternative for the treatment of larger volumes of wastewater coming from this type of industries.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2005

By using PCR with nirS gene primers, three nirSharboring denitrifying bacteria (strain N6, strain N23, and strain R13) were newly isolated from activated sludge of a weak municipal wastewater treatment plant. Small-subunit rRNA gene-based analysis indicated that strain N6, strain N23, and strain R13 were closely related to Arthrobacter sp.,Staphylococcus sp., and Bacillus sp., respectively. In an attempt to identify their roles in biological nitrate and nitrite removal from sewage, we investigated their specific denitrification rates (SDNRs) for $NO_-^3$ - and $NO_-^2$ - in various cultures. All purecultures of each isolated nirS-harboring bacterial strain could remove $NO_-^3$ - and $NO_-^2$ - simultaneously in high efficiency, and the carbon requirements for $NO_-^3$ - removal of strain N6 and strain R13 were effectively low at 3.1 and 4.1 g COD/g $NO_3N$, respectively. In the case of mix-cultures of the strains (N6+N23, N6+R13, N23+R13, and N6+N23+R13), their SDNRs for $NO_-^3$ - were also effective, and their carbon requirements for $NO_-^3$ - removal were also effective at 3.0- 3.8 g COD/g NO3N. However, all tested mix-cultures accumulated $NO_-^2$ - in their culture media. On the other hand, the continuous culture of activated sludge mixed with strain N6 showed no significant increase of $NO_-^3$ - removal in comparison with strain N6's pure culture. These results suggest that nitrate and nitrite removal in biological wastewater treatment might be dependent on complicated bacterial interactions, including several effective denitrifying bacteria isolated in this study, rather than the specific bacterial types present and the number of bacterial types in activated sludge.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.393-402
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• 2014

Culture-dependent and culture-independent denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analyses were employed to investigate the bacterial community associated with a natural dye wastewater treatment facility. A total of 104 (influent water, 48 strains; aeration tank, 25; settling tank, 31) bacterial strains were isolated. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences comparison analysis, the isolates belonged to four phyla: Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteriodetes. Seventeen DGGE bands representing dominant taxa in each sample were cloned and partially sequenced. The same four phyla were detected by DGGE fingerprinting. The most dominant taxon retrieved by both methods was the member of the phylum Proteobacteria with Alphaproteobacteria as the predominant class. The bacterial community associated with the natural dye wastewater treatment facility is composed of parasites of animals and plants, decomposers of polysaccharides and dyes, and producers of extracellular polysaccharides.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.847-852
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• 2003

It was examined carefully that the bacterial die-off between Chlorella vulgaris and E. coli. W3110 was tested through adding TOC (total organic carbon) with the lab-scaled continuous river water flow system (CRWFS). Artificial synthetic wastewater was applied at two levels of organic carbon concentration; 1,335 mg/l in treatment type 1 and 267 mg/l in type 2. In both types, the population densities of Chlorella vulgaris were similar in a maximum 8.25 ${\times}$ 10$\^$6/ cells/ml (type 1) and 6.925 ${\times}$ 10$\^$6/ cells/ml (type 2). The maximum densities of E. coli. W3110 were 2.0 ${\times}$ 10$\^$8/ colony forming unit (CFU)/ml in type 1 and 3.9 ${\times}$ 10$\^$8/ CFU/ml in type 2. The densities increased for 11 days in type 1 and 4 days in type 2, then decreased rapidly till the 35th day, then slightly increased again. This trend was prominent in type 2. It implied that a wider range of nutrients was required in the growth of heterotrophic bacteria in type 2 than in type 1. We could not expect successful bacterial die-off if the wastewater retention time was not furnished sufficiently.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2010

The phenolic compounds are a major contaminant class often found in industrial wastewaters and the biological treatment is an alternative tool commonly employed for their removal. In this sense, monitoring microbial community dynamics is crucial for a successful wastewater treatment. This work aimed to monitor the structure and activity of the bacterial community during the operation of a laboratory-scale continuous submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR), using PCR and RT-PCR followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and 16S rRNA libraries. Multivariate analyses carried out using DGGE profiles showed significant changes in the total and metabolically active dominant community members during the 4-week treatment period, explained mainly by phenol and ammonium input. Gene libraries were assembled using 16S rDNA and 16S rRNA PCR products from the fourth week of treatment. Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses of clones from the 16S rDNA library revealed a high diversity of taxa for the total bacterial community, with predominance of Thauera genus (ca. 50%). On the other hand, a lower diversity was found for metabolically active bacteria, which were mostly represented by members of Betaproteobacteria (Thauera and Comamonas), suggesting that these groups have a relevant role in the phenol degradation during the final phase of the SMBR operation.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.355-361
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• 2014

The wastewater treatment with a two-phase expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) system for anaerobic degradation of acetate, benzoate, terephtalate and p-toluate from purified terephtalic acid (PTA) production was studied. The feasibility and effectiveness of the system was evaluated in terms of organic oxidation by chemical oxygen demand (COD), gas production, bacterial adaptability and stability in the granular sludge. Average removal efficiencies 93.5% and 72.7% were achieved in the EGSB reactors under volumetric loading rates of $1.0-15kg-COD/m^3/day$ and terephtalate and p-toluate of 351-526 mg/L, respectively. Gas production reached total methane production rate of 0.30 L/g-COD under these conditions in the sequential EGSB reactor system. Higher strength influent COD concentration above 4.8 g-COD/L related to field conditions was fed to observe the disturbance of the EGSB reactors.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.28-32
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• 2012

In this study, the treatment ability of the wastewater containing perchlorate by non-salt tolerant perchlorate reducing bacterial consortium (N-PRBC) was evaluated in a continuous stirred tank bioreactor (CSTR). To obtain the optimal operating condition the bioreactor was operated with the different wastewater empty bed retention time (EBRT). The treatment performance in the bioreactor could be maintained at 100 $mg-ClO_4{^-}L^{-1}$ up to a EBRT of 3 h, and the removal capacity in the CSTR was about 3.3 times higher than that in a batch operation. With a decrease from 9 h to 2 h in a EBRT, the volumetric perchlorate reduction rate was increased from 11.1 $mg-ClO_4{^-}L^{-1}h^{-1}$ to 50.0 $mg-ClO_4{^-}L^{-1}h^{-1}$, and the specific perchlorate reduction rates were increased from 3.01 $mg-ClO_4{^-}g-DCW^{-1}h^{-1}$. In conclusion, the treatment capacities in a CSTR were much better than those obtained in a batch operation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.307-312
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• 2011

The potential of algal-bacterial culture was investigated for advanced treatment of animal wastewater. Fed-batch experiments were carried out to examine treatability of nitrogen and phosphorus in different microbial consortium: Chlorella vulgaris, activated sludge, three microalgae strains (Scenedesmus, Microcystis, Chlorella) and Bacillus consortium, and three microalgae strains and sludge consortium. Single culture of C. vugaris showed the better efficiency for nitrogen removal but was not good at organic matter and phosphorus removal compared with activated sludge. Three microalgae and Bacillus consortium was best culture among the culture and consortium for pollutants removal tested in this experiment. Effect of $CO_2$ addition was studied by using three microalgae and Bacillus consortium. $CO_2$ addition enhanced T-P removal efficiency up to 60%. However, removal efficiencies of T-N and ammonia nitrogen reduced on the contrary.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.34 no.2 s.94
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• pp.119-125
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• 2001

Total bacterial density was investigated in the main stream and tributaries of the Kyongan Stream and inlet parts of Paltang Reservoir from September 2000 to February 2001 by acridine orange direct count (AODC) method. Total bacterial number in the Kyongan Stream was mainly under influence of the effluent discharge of sewage wastewater treatment plant (SWTP) located in the upstream or downstream. Decreasing rate with water flowing distance (km) in the main stream is $0.13\;{\time}\;10^6$ cells/ml, and it was estimated to much accumulating quantity on the stream bed during transport to downstream. Average values of total bacterial number in September${\sim}$October, November and December${\sim}$February were range $1.74{\sim}3.10{\time}10^6$, $1.86{\sim}7.30{\time}10^6$ and $4.56{\sim}8.75{\time}10^6$cells/ml, respectively, and were high at low temperature than that of high temperature period. Total bacterial number was more abundant at below $10^{\circ}C$ with $2.1{\sim}3.0$ folds than at above $10^{\circ}C$. Water quality by total bacterial number was classify to eutrophic and the potential of wastewater treated effluent for the microbial contamination assessed to very high. The results of this study indicate that the management of point source, SWTP effluent, is urgent to mitigate bacterial impact of Paltang Reservoir as well as the Kyongan Stream.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1019-1027
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• 2009

A noncompartmented microbial fuel cell (NCMFC) composed of a Mn(IV)-carbon plate and a Fe(III)-carbon plate was used for electricity generation from organic wastewater without consumption of external energy. The Fe(III)-carbon plate, coated with a porous ceramic membrane and a semipermeable cellulose acetate film, was used as a cathode, which substituted for the catholyte and cathode. The Mn(IV)-carbon plate was used as an anode without a membrane or film coating. A solar cell connected to the NCMFC activated electricity generation and bacterial consumption of organic matter contained in the wastewater. More than 99% of the organic matter was biochemically oxidized during wastewater flow through the four NCMFC units. A predominant bacterium isolated from the anode surface in both the conventional and the solar cell-linked NCMFC was found to be more than 99% similar to a Mn(II)-oxidizing bacterium and Burkeholderia sp., based on 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The isolate reacted electrochemically with the Mn(IV)-modified anode and produced electricity in the NCMFC. After 90 days of incubation, a bacterial species that was enriched on the Mn(IV)-modified anode surface in all of the NCMFC units was found to be very similar to the initially isolated predominant species by comparing 16S rDNA sequences.