• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.939-947
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• 2000

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) was performed in an anaerobic/aerobic sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Influent was a synthetic wastewater based on acetate as a carbon source. The sludge age and hydraulic retention time were kept at 10 days and 16 hrs, respectively, Phosphate release during the anaerobic period and phosphate uptake in aerobic period were increased gradually with time. and after about 200 days, steady-state operation could be achieved with complete removal of influent phosphate. Number distribution of microbial community in the sludge performing EBPR was investigated during the steady state operation. 17 rRNA targeted oligonucleotide probes were designed and slot hybridization technique was used to determine the number distribution of each microorganism. In the acetate fed SBR, rRNA belonging to the beta subclass of proteobacteria was the most dominant in total rRNA and rRNA matching to CTE probe was the second, rRNAs of Acinetobacter, Aeromonas and Pseudomonas, which are usually thought as phosphorus accumulating organisms in EBPR processes, constituted less than 10% of total rRNA. From this community analysis, it was inferred that microorganisms belong to the beta subclass of proteobacteia (BET) and CTE such as Rhodocyclus group were important in biological phosphorus removal. Therefore, the role of Acinetobacter, Aeromonas and Pseudomonas in the EBPR might have been overestimated.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2003

Ninety strains of photosynthetic bacteria were isolated from a local stream at Kyonggi-do, Korea and were further screened. Using these isolated strains, experiments were performed under various light and oxygen conditions in order to select strains with high nitrogen $(NH_3-N,\; NO_3^--N)$ removal efficiencies. Results showed that all the strains screened removed $NH_3-N$, the light had no effect on nitrogen removal, and the nitrogen removal rate was higher aerobically than anaerobically. The removal of $NO_3^--N$ was showed up to 35.3% in some specific strains. Results of batch experiments using Rhodocyclus gelatinosus, an isolated strain with a superior removal rate of $NH_3--N$ and $NH_3-N$, under the anaerobic condition, showed that the removal rate of organics and $NH_3-N$ was the highest (98.2 and 89.0%, respectively) at the CODcr (mg/L)/biomass (mg/L) ratio of 0.2, and the $NH_3-N$ concentration did not increase with the decreasing $NH_3-N$ concentration. Experimental results from various C/N ratios confirmed that the effective removal rate (75.8%) of $NH_3-N$ occurred even at the low (5:1) C/N ratio as well as high ratios, and the simulataneous removal of $NO_3^--N$ (96.0%).

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.691-698
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• 2009

Trickling filter has been extensively studied for the domestic wastewater treatment especially for the small scale plants in rural area. The performance of the trickling filter depends on the microbial community and their activity in the biofilms on the media. Nitrification. denitrification, and phosphorus removal of the trickling filter from the wastewater depend on the activity and the amount of the specific microorganisms responsible for the metabolism. For the estimation of the performance of a trickling filter, batch nitrification experiment and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were carried out to measure the microbial activity and its distribution on the media of the trickling filter. Batch nitrification activity measurement showed that the top part of the 1st stage trickling filter had the highest nitrification activity and the maximum activity was 0.002 g $NH_4$-N/g MLVSS${\cdot}$h. It is thought that higher substrate (ammonia) concentration yields more nitrifying bacteria in the biofilms. The dominant ammonia oxidizer and nitrite oxidizer in the biofilm were Nitrosomonas species and genus Nitrospira, respectively, by FISH analysis. Less denitrifiers were found than nitrifiers in the biofilm by the probe Rrp1088 which specifically binds to Rhodobacter, Rhodovulum, Roseobacter, and Paracoccus. Phosphorus accumulating bacteria were mostly found at the surface of the biofilm by probe Rc988 and PAO651 which specifically binds to Rhodocyclus group and their biomass was less than that of nitrifiers.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.113-118
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• 2002

Laboratory experiments were aimed to evaluate the effect of nitrate as a electron acceptor during the biological phosphorus uptake and to investigate the microbial community. Anaerobic-anoxic sequencing batch reactor (SBR) compared the removal behaviour to anaerobic-oxic SBR, both SBRs maintained lower effluent quality with 1.0 mgp/1. Anaerobic-anoxic SBR was able to remove additional 5.0 to 7.0 mg (P+N)/ι than other biological nutrient removal (BM) system. Therefore, it was proposed that the anaerobic-anoxic SBR was more effective at weak sewage. From the results of the maicrobial community analysis, it can be inferred that denitrifying bacteria and polyphosphate accumulating bacteria coexist in anaerobic-anoxic SBR during stable condition for removing the nitrogen and phosphorus. Particularly, it was suggested that the Zoogloea ramigera in the $\beta$-subclass of proteobacteria and the Alcaligenes defragrans of the Rhodocyclus group in the $\beta$-subclass of proteobacteria played a major role for removing the nitrogen and phosphorus as dPAOs (denitrifying phosphate accumulating organisms).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.1290-1297
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• 2008

To investigate the diversities of Accumulibacter phosphatis and its polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase gene (phaC) in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) sludge, an acetate-fed sequencing batch reactor was operated. Analysis of microbial communities using fluorescence in situ hybridization and 16S rRNA gene clone libraries showed that the population of Accumulibacter phosphatis in the EBPR sludge comprised more than 50% of total bacteria, and was clearly divided into two subgroups with about 97.5% sequence identity of the 16S rRNA genes. PAO phaC primers targeting the phaC genes of Accumulibacter phosphatis were designed and applied to retrieve fragments of putative phaC homologs of Accumulibacter phosphatis from EBPR sludge. PAO phaC primers targeting $G_{1PAO},\;G_{2PAO},\;and\;G_{3PAO}$ groups produced PCR amplicons successfully; the resulting sequences of the phaC gene homologs were diverse, and were distantly related to metagenomic phaC sequences of Accumulibacter phosphatis with 75-98% DNA sequence identities. Degenerate NPAO (non-PAO) phaC primers targeting phaC genes of non-Accumulibacter phosphatis bacteria were also designed and applied to the EBPR sludge. Twenty-four phaC homologs retrieved from NPAO phaC primers were different from the phaC gene homologs derived from Accumulibacter phosphatis, which suggests that the PAO phaC primers were specific for the amplification of phaC gene homologs of Accumulibacter phosphatis, and the putative phaC gene homologs by PAO phaC primers were derived from Accumulibacter phosphatis in the EBPR sludge. Among 24 phaC homologs, a phaC homolog (GINPAO-2), which was dominant in the NPAO phaC clone library, showed the strongest signal in slot hybridization and shared approximately 60% nucleotide identity with the $G_{4PAO}$ group of Accumulibacter phosphatis, which suggests that GINPAO-2 might be derived from Accumulibacter phosphatis. In conclusion, analyses of the 16S rRNA and phaC genes showed that Accumulibacter phosphatis might be phylogenetically and metabolically diverse.