Characterization of Microbial Community in Biological Wastewater Treatment System Using Respiratory Quinone Profiles

The dynamics of microbial community structure of the various domestic wastewater treatment processes were examined using a novel approach of quinone profiles. The compositions of microbial quinone of 5 sites fer plant and lab-scale activated sludge were analyzed. More than 14 kinds of quinones were observed in the activated sludges tested in this study. The microbial community structure of the plant activated sludge processes a little differed from that of the lab-scale submerged MBR systems. The dominant quinones were UQ-8, UQ-10 followed $MK-8(H_4)$, MK-7 and MK-6. The molar ratio of ubiquinones to menaquinones (UQ/MK) changed from 0.81 to 1.9, indicating that aerobic bacteria dominated the microbial community of the activated sludge examined. The microbial diversity of the activated sludges calculated from the all quinone compositions was 9.5-11.9 and the microbial equability of the activated sludges was 0.64-0.79.