Nitrification performance and microbial ecology of nitrifying bacteria in a full-scale membrane bioreactor treating TFT-LCD wastewater

• Published in: Bioresource technology 2012-10, Vol.122, p.70-77
• Main Authors: Whang, Liang-Ming, Wu, Yi-Ju, Lee, Ya-Chin, Chen, Hong-Wei, Fukushima, Toshikazu, Chang, Ming-Yu, Cheng, Sheng-Shung, Hsu, Shu-Fu, Chang, Cheng-Huey, Shen, Wason, Huang, Chung Kai, Fu, Ryan, Chang, Barkley
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerobiosis; Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB); Amoa T-RFLP; Bacteria; Bacteria - metabolism; Biodegradation, Environmental; Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; Bioreactors; Bioreactors - microbiology; chemical oxygen demand; Colloidal COD; dimethyl sulfoxide; Ecology; genes; Liquid Crystals - microbiology; MBR; Membranes; Membranes, Artificial; microbial ecology; Microorganisms; Nitrates - analysis; Nitrification; Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB); nitrites; Nitrogen - analysis; Nitrosomonas; Oxidation-Reduction; polymerase chain reaction; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; Quaternary Ammonium Compounds - analysis; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; restriction fragment length polymorphism; Sewage - microbiology; Tanks; Transistors, Electronic - microbiology; Waste Disposal, Fluid; Waste water; Waste Water - microbiology; wastewater; Water Purification - instrumentation
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2012.04.092

► Demonstration of nitrification in one full-scale MBR treating TFT-LCD wastewater. ► Colloidal COD at a concentration higher than 200mg/L may inhibit nitrification. ► Nitrosomonas oligotropha is important to good nitrification in MBR treating TFT-LCD wastewater. This study investigated nitrification performance and nitrifying community in one full-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) treating TFT-LCD wastewater. For the A/O MBR system treating monoethanolamine (MEA) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), no nitrification was observed, due presumably to high organic loading, high colloidal COD, low DO, and low hydraulic retention time (HRT) conditions. By including additional A/O or O/A tanks, the A/O/A/O MBR and the O/A/O MBR were able to perform successful nitrification. The real-time PCR results for quantification of nitrifying populations showed a high correlation to nitrification performance, and can be a good indicator of stable nitrification. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) results of functional gene, amoA, suggest that Nitrosomonas oligotropha-like AOB seemed to be important to a good nitrification in the MBR system. In the MBR system, Nitrobacter- and Nitrospira-like NOB were both abundant, but the low nitrite environment is likely to promote the growth of Nitrospira-like NOB.