Poster Sessions

Abstract. This work reports on the development of a psychrophilic and acidophilic sulfate-reducing bacterial (SRB) consortium from Arctic mine sediments and demonstrated to be successful in removing sulfate and metals at low temperature and acidic pH. The enriched inoculum at varying pH (3–7) and...

Impervious surfaces in Texas have increased faster than any other states in the U.S. in the past few decades. Heavy metals run off generating from pavements, automobiles and oil spills are of great concern due to their negative impacts on habitats and human health. Conventional remedial methods reco...

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a very potent greenhouse gas, and mentioned as the dominant ozone-depleting substance of the 21st century. This compound has a 300 times higher climate warming potential than CO2 and it is one of the main contributors to the greenhouse footprint of wastewater treatment plants ...

Context: Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) process large quantities of waste via complex microbial communities that degrade, transform and/or take-up diverse molecules. Secreted proteins (exoenzymes) are key for such functions and usually catalyze the rate-limiting step because many are first to ...

High rate activated sludge (HRAS) systems, which are aerobic, are used for redirecting organics for energy recovery. The HRAS works at low sludge retention time (SRT), very short hydraulic retention time (HRT) and a high food to microorganism ratio (F/M). Effluents from these systems have a low carb...

Context. Effective risk assessment and control for environmental antibiotic resistance require comprehensive information of not only the composition of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) but also the assembly characteristics of ARG-carriers.Gap. Owing to the advancements in sequencing technologies a...

Influence of Microbial Community and Biofilm Thickness in the Removal of Organic Micro Pollutants through a Membrane Aerated Biofilm ReactorSanchez-Huerta C. 1,*, Fortunato L.1, Leiknes T. 1, Hong P.-Y. 11 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Water Desalination and Reuse Cen...

Several factors have been identified to play a role in enhancing extracellular DNA (eDNA) transformation by bacteria. These factors include chemical compounds such as disinfection by products (DBP) and pharmaceutical drugs; moreover, environmental stressors such as solar irradiance has been shown to...

Context. Phages are viruses that infect bacteria and, by predation, can influence the bacterial population dynamics and, consequently, the function of a microbial community. This mechanism can compromise the efficiency of engineered systems that rely on the activity of a bacterial consortium, such ...

The health challenges posed by microbial pathogens in water and biofilms are of great global concern. It is important to understand the impact of different disinfection strategies on microbiomes to facilitate water quality control. This work demonstrated the yearlong impacts of ultraviolet light-emi...

Drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) are unique engineering environments that are important routes for the acquisition and dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in drinking water pose risks to human and environmental ...

The study of archaeal microbiota is currently hindered by methodological constraints and a constant expansion of this life Domain. In amplicon sequencing surveys, the use of universal primers eventually results in a PCR bias, overlooking different archaeal taxons. Furthermore, archaeal taxonomic st...

Context. Phototrophic purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB) have attracted considerable attention to upgrade wastewater resources to microbial protein for animal feed. Next to their outstanding nutritional properties, they possess the unique ability to grow selectively under anaerobic conditions in the ...

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are completely biodegradable polymers, that can be synthesized from renewable carbon resources and with important thermo-plastic properties. During last years, an uncoupled C and N-feeding strategy has been applied in sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) in order to stim...

Potable water systems are often contaminated with the opportunistic pathogenic bacteria Legionella pneumophila. Growth of the pathogen in buildings is affected by operational settings, system design, water use patterns, and unplanned disruptive events.The impact of technical interventions on Legione...

Medium-chain carboxylic acids (MCCA) are saturated fatty acids containing between 6 and 12 carbon atoms, including a carboxylic group. MCCA are generally produced from fossil sources by chemical processes or extracted from natural oils. The use of bacterial consortia instead of pure cultures in the ...

Context. Wet anaerobic digestion is a promising technology for organic waste treatment and energy recovery. Diverse microorganisms are the basis of anaerobic biological treatment process, which sequentially shift under the selective pressure induced by operation parameter and environmental factors....

Bulking sludge has been an operational problem of great interest in which filamentous bacteria (FB) have been shown to be the main cause. Recent evidence states that 90% of the sludge bulking cases is caused by the overgrowth of FB. A recent Belgian study revealed that 36% of the 90 studied industri...

Nitrogen removal from wastewater involves design and operational strategies that are based on the kinetic characteristics of strict ammonia oxidizer bacteria (AOB) and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Several studies in wastewater have found complete nitrifiers related to Ca. Nitrospira nitrosa as ...

Evaluation of organic carbon migration and biomass formation on polymeric pipes using the modified BioMig Thi Huyen Duong, Ji Won Park, Jin Hyung Noh, Sung Kyu Maeng*Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05006, Republic of Korea....

To reduce the spread of COVID-19, students and workers in many sectors were placed under stay-at-home orders, leading to significant decreases in water demand in many non-residential areas. Previous research has associated increased water age with increased microbial abundance, metals, and other con...

Context. Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) bioprocess allows to remove nutrients from wastewater. AGS can be obtained from enhanced biological phosphorous removal reactors after applying specific operational conditions for granulation.Gap. Functional activities and microorganisms involved in the nutrien...

Chloroflexi are found in very different ecosystems such as aerobic and anaerobic Carbon removal reactors and even in Nitrogen removal systems. But their role is not yet understood. Then, we ask ourselves: are Chloroflexi members found in different reactors closely phylogenetically related? have they...

Electrogenic bacteria (EB) are able to displace respiratory electrons to solid phase terminal electron acceptors. These can be an electrode in a bioelectrochemical system where the electrons are captured as current or, in natural environments, metal oxides. Electrogenic bacteria have been studied as...

Context. A member of the candidate phylum radiation (CPR) of bacteria was recently shown to lyse cells of Gordonia amarae which is known to cause foaming in wastewater treatment plants(Batinovic et al. 2021). The ability to kill G. amarae suggests that CPR bacteria could potentially be used as a bio...

Context. Cheese whey, an aqueous by-product of the dairying industry with high organic load, has 42% of its annual production (154 Mm3·y-1) underutilized as animal feed, fertilizer or discharged in surface water leading to eutrophication. Gap. Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) p...

Nitrous oxide (N2O) production in autotrophic nitrogen conversion processes can be significant and requires further understanding. We operated an intermittently aerated partial nitritation/anammox (PN/A) sequencing batch reactor. Net N2O production rates increased in the aerated phase and decreased ...

Context. Arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses) are pathogens that impose a great social and economic burden globally. Clinical surveillance of arbovirus outbreaks is insufficient to assess the true prevalence as a large proportion of cases exhibit no or only mild clinical symptoms such as reported f...

Context. Phosphate is an important, but scarce resource. Recycling of phosphate from wastewater is one way to solve this problem, a process where polyphosphate-accumulating organisms(PAOs), such as the well-known genera Candidatus Accumulibacter, Tetrasphaera, along with the recently confirmed Dech...