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Metagenomic analysis of phosphorus removing sludgecommunities [electronic resource].

Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR) is not wellunderstood at the metabolic level despite being one of the best-studiedmicrobially-mediated industrial processes due to its ecological andeconomic relevance. Here we present a metagenomic analysis of twolab-scale EBPR sludges dominated by the uncultured bacterium, "CandidatusAccumulibacter phosphatis." This analysis resolves several controversiesin EBPR metabolic models and provides hypotheses explaining the dominanceof A. phosphatis in this habitat, its lifestyle outside EBPR and probablecultivation requirements. Comparison of the same species from differentEBPR sludges highlights recent evolutionary dynamics in the A. phosphatisgenome that could be linked to mechanisms for environmental adaptation.In spite of an apparent lack of phylogenetic overlap in the flankingcommunities of the two sludges studied, common functional themes werefound, at least one of them complementary to the inferred metabolism ofthe dominant organism. The present study provides a much-needed blueprintfor a systems-level understanding of EBPR and illustrates thatmetagenomics enables detailed, often novel, insights into evenwell-studied biological systems.

Online OSTI

Handbook of wastewater treatment : biological methods, technology, and environmental impact

Wastewater treatment represents a continuous challenge for engineers, environmental scientists and regulators. Today, an increasing number of new contaminants are being found such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and nanomaterials. In this book, the authors present current research in the study of the biological methods, technology and environmental impact of wastewater treatment processes. Topics include anaerobic membrane bioreactors for wastewater treatment; ecotoxicological approaches to assess wastewater's environmental impact to saltwater; EBPR for wastewater treatment; innovative sequencing batch reactors for industrial wastewater treatment; PAHs in the water environment; and cationic tannins as a coagulatnt/flocculant agent.

Online EBSCO Academic Comprehensive Collection

E2.16 Avila 2018 ReNUWIt Annual Meeting Poster

Metro Wastewater Reclamation District (District) is currently undergoing extensive upgrades to the Robert W. Hite Facility (RWHTF) to meet increasingly stringent nutrient regulations, particularly focused on effluent discharge phosphorus (P). Infrastructure investments for nutrient removal are a significant capital expense for the District, but the capital expenditures must also take into account the long-term operating expenses associated with new process implementation. Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) was determined to be a sustainable and cost effective means to remove P from the liquid stream. However the process has had negative impacts on other downstream processes. Anaerobic digestion of EBPR solids creates a high phosphorus recycle stream loading on the secondary activated sludge process that must be controlled to maintain effluent quality. The costs associated with biosolids dewaterability increase with EBPR, creating expenditure fluctuations that become an important focus area due to the high percentage of operating costs that the unit process represents. EBPR also significantly increases nuisance struvite precipitation in solids process facilities and equipment, increases the phosphorus to nitrogen ratio of land applied biosolids, and has potential impacts on emerging sidestream and solids treatment technologies. Resource recovery can assist in offsetting the costs associated with facility upgrades, operation, and maintenance that increase with improved effluent quality, and environmental protection.