Effect of lake water on algal biomass and microbial community structure in municipal wastewater based lab-scale photobioreactors

• Photobioreactors are a novel environmental technology that can produce biofuels with the simultaneous removal of nutrients and pollutants from wastewaters. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the lake water addition to the production of algal biomass, and phylogenetic and functional structure of the algal and bacterial communities in the lab-scale bioreactors treating municipal wastewater.The lake water addition has significant benefit to the overall algal biomass growth and nutrient reduction in the reactors with wastewater and lake water (ratio 70/30 v/v). The metagenome based survey showed that the most abundant algal phylum in these reactors was Chlorophyta with Scenedesmus being the most prominent genus. The most abundant bacterial phyla were Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes with most dominant families being Sphingobacteriaceae, Cytophagaceae, Flavobacteriaceae, Comamonadaceae, Planctomycetaceae, Nocardiaceae and Nostocaceae. These photobioreactors were also effective in reducing the overall amount of pathogens in wastewater compared to reactors with wastewater/tap water mixture. Functional analysis of the photobioreactor metagenomes revealed an increase in relative abundance genes related to photosynthesis, synthesis of vitamins important for auxotrophic algae, and decrease in virulence and nitrogen metabolism subsystems in lake water reactors.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Mikrobiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Microbiology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

biomass production; metagenome analysis; photobioreactor; wastewater treatment

Biotechnology/Chemical Engineering

bioteknik/kemiteknik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)