Performance and microbial community structure of a polar Arctic Circle aerobic granular sludge system operating at low temperature

Alejandro Gonzalez-Martinez*, Barbara Muñoz-Palazon, Paula Maza-Márquez, Alejandro Rodriguez-Sanchez, Jesus Gonzalez-Lopez, Riku Vahala

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

50 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the performance and microbial community structure of a polar Arctic Circle aerobic granular sludge (AGS) system operating at low temperature. Thus, an AGS bioreactor was operated at 7, 5 and 3 °C of temperature using a cold-adapted sludge from Lapland. At 5 °C, it yielded acceptable conversion rates, in terms of nitrogen, phosphorous, and organic matter. However, under 3 °C a negligible nitrogen and phosphorous removal performance was observed. Below 5 °C, scanning electron microscopy studies showed a wispy, non-dense and irregular granular structure with a strong outgrowth of filamentous. Moreover, Illumina next-generation sequencing showed a heterogeneous microbial population where SM1K20 (Archaea), Trichosporon domesticum (Fungus), and Zooglea, Arcobacter and Acinetobacter (Bacteria) were the dominant phylotypes. Our study suggests that AGS technologies inoculated with North Pole sludge could be operated, in cold regions for a period longer than 3 months (winter season) under 5 °C of water temperature.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)22-29
Number of pages8
JournalBioresource Technology
Volume256
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2018
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Aerobic granular sludge
  • Low temperature
  • Massive parallel sequencing
  • North Pole
  • Wastewater treatment

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