Unraveling microbial characteristics of simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal in a membrane-aerated biofilm reactor.

This study describes the simultaneous removal of carbon, ammonium, and phosphate from domestic wastewater by a membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) which was operated for 360 days. During the operation, the maximum removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) reached 93.1%, 83.98%, and 96.41%, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that the MABR could potentially treat wastewater with a high ammonium concentration and a relatively low C/N ratio. Dissolved oxygen and multiple pollutants, including ammonium, carbon, phosphate, and sulfate, shaped the structure of the microbial community in the MABR. High throughput sequencing uncovered the crucial microbiome in ammonium transformation in MABR. Phylogenetic analysis of the ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) genes revealed an important role for comammox Nitrospira in the nitrification process. Diverse novel phosphate-accumulating organisms (Thauera, Bacillus, and Pseudomonas) and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (Thiobacillus, Thiothrix and Sulfurimonas) were potentially involved in denitrification in MABR. The results from this study suggested that MABR could be a feasible system for the simultaneous removal of nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus, and sulfur from sewage water.

Investigation of reduction in risk from antibiotic resistance genes in laboratory wastewater by using O3 , ultrasound, and autoclaving.

Biological laboratory wastewater containing both antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotics is a potential source of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Thus, we determined the efficacy of autoclaving, a common disinfection method, in eliminating 5 ARGs (sul1, sul2, tetW, tetM, amp) and the integrase-encoding gene intI1 from laboratory wastewater. Autoclaving (15 min, 121°C) inactivated all bacteria including ARB, whereas ARGs persisted in the wastewater with limited reduction even after 60 min of treatment. Ozonation (O3 ), ultrasound (US), O3 /US, and autoclaving followed by O3 were investigated for their ability to reduce ARGs in laboratory wastewater. With O3 and O3 /US, the reduction rate ranged from 5.44 to 7.13 log for all ARGs investigated. Wastewater treatment with US alone did not reduce ARGs under the present experimental conditions (150 W, 53 kHz). Among the four treatments, autoclaving followed by O3 treatment showed the highest reduction rates in the shortest time; however, further optimization and investigation are needed for the advanced treatment of bio-laboratory wastewater. Overall, this study provides novel insights into ARG sources and demonstrates that advanced oxidation methods can be useful to optimize laboratory wastewater treatment for ARG inactivation. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Bio-laboratory wastewater is potential reservoir of ARGs. Conventional autoclaving was not able to reduce ARGs to a low level. Autoclaving-O3 completely eliminate all the bacteria. Autoclaving-O3 reduced ARGs efficiently (6.12-7.86 logs removal in 60 min).