title: Performance of a commercial inoculum for the aerobic biodegradation of a high fat content dairy wastewater.
abstract: The effectiveness of a commercial inoculum for degrading a dairy wastewater with high fat content was evaluated, and compared with an activated sludge inoculum from a dairy wastewater treatment pond. Both inocula reached similar chemical oxygen demand removal in batch experiments. The population dynamics was also studied by determining heterotrophic counts. Predominant microorganisms were differentiated by colony morphology and genomic fingerprinting (BOX-PCR) analysis. The higher population diversity and the wider range of CO2 production rate observed in batch reactors inoculated with activated-sludge, indicated that microorganisms from this inoculum were well adapted and may have had synergic activity for the degradation of the dairy effluent. When the bioreactor was operated with the commercial inoculum in continuous mode, according to its microbial growth kinetics, other microorganisms became predominant. These results showed that inoculated microorganisms did not persist in the open system and periodic addition of microorganisms may be needed to achieve a high performance treatment.
authors.affiliation: Dept. Bioingeniería, Instituto de Ingeniería Química, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de la República, J. Herrera y Reissig 565, 11300, Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Lyliam
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Loperena
authors.forename: Mario Daniel
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Verónica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Saravia
authors.forename: Daiman
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Murro
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Lucía
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferrando
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lareo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001420:Bacteria, Aerobic / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology; D002417:Cattle; D005223:Fats / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000032:analysis; D008954:Models, Biological; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D005223:Fats; D007220:Industrial Waste; D014873:Water Pollutants