Successional development of biofilms in moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) systems treating municipal wastewater

• Published in: Applied microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 98; no. 3; pp. 1429 - 1440
• Main Authors: Biswas, Kristi, Taylor, Michael W, Turner, Susan J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-02-2014; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Archaea; Archaea - classification; Archaea - isolation & purification; Archaea - physiology; Arcobacter; Bacteria; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; biofilm; Biofilms; Biofilms - growth & development; Biomass; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Bioreactors; Bioreactors - microbiology; Biota; Biotechnology; Cloning; Clostridiales; Communities; Community structure; Crenarchaeota; delta-Proteobacteria; Dominance; Effluents; Environmental Biotechnology; Euryarchaeota; gamma-Proteobacteria; Libraries; Life Sciences; Membrane reactors; Methanosarcinaceae; Microbial activity; microbial biomass; microbial communities; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbial mats; Microbiology; Microorganisms; Molecular Sequence Data; Municipal wastewater; Purification; Reactors; ribosomal RNA; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; sequence analysis; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequences; Sewage; Sludge; Studies; Waste Water; wastewater treatment; Wastewater treatment plants; Water Purification - methods; Water treatment; New Zealand; Biofilm succession; Bacteria; Microbial communities; Wastewater; Archaea; Pyrosequencing
• ISSN: 0175-7598; 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/s00253-013-5082-8

Biofilm-based technologies, such as moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) systems, are widely used to treat wastewater. Biofilm development is important for MBBR systems as much of the microbial biomass is retained within reactors as biofilm on suspended carriers. Little is known about this process of biofilm development and the microorganisms upon which MBBRs rely. We documented successional changes in microbial communities as biofilms established in two full-scale MBBR systems treating municipal wastewater over two seasons. 16S rRNA gene-targeted pyrosequencing and clone libraries were used to describe microbial communities. These data indicate a successional process that commences with the establishment of an aerobic community dominated by Gammaproteobacteria (up to 52 % of sequences). Over time, this community shifts towards dominance by putatively anaerobic organisms including Deltaproteobacteria and Clostridiales. Significant differences were observed between the two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), mostly due to a large number of sequences (up to 55 %) representing Epsilonproteobacteria (mostly Arcobacter) at one site. Archaea in young biofilms included several lineages of Euryarchaeota and Crenarchaeota. In contrast, the mature biofilm consisted entirely of Methanosarcinaceae (Euryarchaeota). This study provides new insights into the community structure of developing biofilms at full-scale WWTPs and provides the basis for optimizing MBBR start-up and operational parameters.