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Filamentous bacteria existence in aerobic granular reactors

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Abstract

Filamentous bacteria are associated to biomass settling problems in wastewater treatment plants. In systems based on aerobic granular biomass they have been proposed to contribute to the initial biomass aggregation process. However, their development on mature aerobic granular systems has not been sufficiently studied. In the present research work, filamentous bacteria were studied for the first time after long-term operation (up to 300 days) of aerobic granular systems. Chloroflexi and Sphaerotilus natans have been observed in a reactor fed with synthetic wastewater. These filamentous bacteria could only come from the inoculated sludge. Thiothrix and Chloroflexi bacteria were observed in aerobic granular biomass treating wastewater from a fish canning industry. Meganema perideroedes was detected in a reactor treating wastewater from a plant processing marine products. As a conclusion, the source of filamentous bacteria in these mature aerobic granular systems fed with industrial effluents was the incoming wastewater.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Spanish Government through NOVEDAR Consolider (CSD2007-00055) and PLASTICWATER (CTQ2011-22675) projects. The authors belong to the Galician Competitive Research Group GRC 2013-032, programme co-funded by FEDER.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago De Compostela, Galicia, Spain

    M. Figueroa, A. Val del Río, J. L. Campos, R. Méndez & A. Mosquera-Corral

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  1. M. Figueroa
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  2. A. Val del Río
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  3. J. L. Campos
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  4. R. Méndez
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  5. A. Mosquera-Corral
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Correspondence to A. Mosquera-Corral.

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Figueroa, M., Val del Río, A., Campos, J.L. et al. Filamentous bacteria existence in aerobic granular reactors. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 38, 841–851 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-014-1327-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-014-1327-x

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