Effect of phenol on the nitrogen removal performance and microbial community structure and composition of an anammox reactor

Abstract

The effects of phenol on the nitrogen removal performance of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with anammox activity and on the microbial community within the reactor were evaluated. A phenol concentration of 300 mg L(-1) reduced the ammonium-nitrogen removal efficiency of the SBR from 96.5% to 47%. The addition of phenol changed the microbial community structure and composition considerably, as shown by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes. Some phyla, such as Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and Firmicutes, increased in abundance, whereas others, such as Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes, GN04, WS3, and NKB19, decreased. The diversity of the anammox bacteria was also affected by phenol: sequences related to Candidatus Brocadia fulgida were no longer detected, whereas sequences related to Ca. Brocadia sp. 40 and Ca. Jettenia asiatica persisted. These results indicate that phenol adversely affects anammox metabolism and changes the bacterial community within the anammox reactor.

High thermostable ordered mesoporous SiO2–TiO2 coated circulating-bed biofilm reactor for unpredictable photocatalytic and biocatalytic performance

“…Even when the phenol is biodegraded, its kinetics is often slow, and biodegradation occurs only at low concentration due to the inhibition [8,9]. In contrast, advanced oxidation process (AOP) is a robust method to break down large organic molecules, including aromatic compounds.…”

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“…For these reasons, 454-pyrosequencing has gained interest in the study of complex microbial communities such as those of wastewater treatment environments (Hu et al, 2012;Xie et al, 2013). Despite the potential of 454-pyrosequencing, the use of this novel technique with anammox reactors is still scarce (Costa et al, 2014;Pereira et al, 2014).…”

How to use molecular biology tools for the study of the anaerobic digestion process?

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