The inhibitory effects of reject water on nitrifying populations grown at different biofilm thickness

Piculell, Maria; Suarez, Carolina; Li, Chunyan; Christensson, Magnus; Persson, Frank; Wagner, Michael; Hermansson, Malte; Jönsson, Karin; Welander, Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2016.08.027

Cited by 62 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In phase 1, the proportion of AOB in carbon-fed R1 was only 5% compared to 15% in R0, likely due to the competition for space and oxygen. Although the presence of nitrifiers throughout the biofilm have been reported 12,40,45 , the AOB Nitrosomonas generally prefer the oxygen-rich outer biofilm layers 14,42 . However, in the carbon-fed biofilm, heterotrophs likely dominated the outer biofilm, with the AOB underneath and the NOB in the layers below 20,36,38,46 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrifying biofilms deprived of organic carbon show higher functional resilience to increases in carbon supply

Navada

Knutsen

Bakke

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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In nitrifying biofilms, the organic carbon to ammonia nitrogen (C/N) supply ratio can influence resource competition between heterotrophic and nitrifying bacteria for oxygen and space. We investigated the impact of acute and chronic changes in carbon supply on inter-guild competition in two moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBR), operated with (R1) and without (R0) external organic carbon supply. The microbial and nitrifying community composition of the reactors differed significantly. Interestingly, acute increases in the dissolved organic carbon inhibited nitrification in R1 ten times more than in R0. A sustained increase in the carbon supply decreased nitrification efficiency and increased denitrification activity to a greater extent in R1, and also increased the proportion of potential denitrifiers in both bioreactors. The findings suggest that autotrophic biofilms subjected to increases in carbon supply show higher nitrification and lower denitrification activity than carbon-fed biofilms. This has significant implications for the design of nitrifying bioreactors. Specifically, efficient removal of organic matter before the nitrification unit can improve the robustness of the bioreactor to varying influent quality. Thus, maintaining a low C/N ratio is important in nitrifying biofilters when acute carbon stress is expected or when anoxic activity (e.g. denitrification or H 2 S production) is undesirable, such as in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrifying biofilms deprived of organic carbon show higher functional resilience to increases in carbon supply

Navada

Knutsen

Bakke

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…The Z50 and Z400 biofilms also differed in their spatial structure, with Z50 being denser and having a smoother architecture, compared with the Z400 (Fig. 1) 36 . Furthermore, extracellular nucleic acids were observed in Z400 but not in Z50 (data not shown).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Samples for optical coherence tomography measurements were taken on day 272 and data showed a biofilm thickness of 45 ± 17 and 379 ± 47 (mean ± S.D.) µm for Z50 and Z400, respectively 36 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, a biofilm carrier with a defined grid wall height that defines the biofilm thickness was designed (Z-carriers, Veolia Water Technologies AB – AnoxKaldnes, Lund, Sweden) 35–37 . These carriers allow stringent experiments with different biofilm thicknesses, which have shown that thickness can affect some biofilm functions 37,38 , evenness 38 , biofilm architecture 36 , abundance of key organisms 36,38 and functional stability after a disturbance 36 . Beside the opportunities to gain basic ecological knowledge by designing new experiments, the ability to control biofilm thickness opens for new process configurations in WWTPs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Secondly, differences in species richness could also lead to a high between-group beta-diversity 41–43 . More specifically, because thicker biofilms have larger volume and surface-area 36 , they are expected to have higher species richness than thin biofilms, thus they are by chance expected to be colonized by more species; thicker biofilms would also have larger gradients of substrates and electron acceptors (e.g. due to anaerobic zones), that could allow the establishment of anaerobic taxa, increasing species richness compared to the thin biofilm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Thickness determines microbial community structure and function in nitrifying biofilms via deterministic assembly

Suarez

Piculell

Modin

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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Microbial biofilms are ubiquitous in aquatic environments where they provide important ecosystem functions. A key property believed to influence the community structure and function of biofilms is thickness. However, since biofilm thickness is inextricably linked to external factors such as water flow, temperature, development age and nutrient conditions, its importance is difficult to quantify. Here, we designed an experimental system in a wastewater treatment plant whereby nitrifying biofilms with different thicknesses (50 or 400 µm) were grown in a single reactor, and thus subjected to identical external conditions. The 50 and 400 µm biofilm communities were significantly different. This beta-diversity between biofilms of different thickness was primarily caused by deterministic factors. Turnover (species replacement) contributed more than nestedness (species loss) to the beta-diversity, i.e. the 50 µm communities were not simply a subset of the 400 µm communities. Moreover, the two communities differed in the composition of nitrogen-transforming bacteria and in nitrogen transformation rates. The study illustrates that biofilm thickness alone is a key driver for community composition and ecosystem function, which has implications for biotechnological applications and for our general understanding of biofilm ecology.

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Towards the biofilm characterization and regulation in biological wastewater treatment

Huang

Peng

et al. 2018

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

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The inhibitory effects of reject water on nitrifying populations grown at different biofilm thickness

Cited by 62 publications

References 39 publications

Nitrifying biofilms deprived of organic carbon show higher functional resilience to increases in carbon supply

Nitrifying biofilms deprived of organic carbon show higher functional resilience to increases in carbon supply

Thickness determines microbial community structure and function in nitrifying biofilms via deterministic assembly

Towards the biofilm characterization and regulation in biological wastewater treatment

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