title: Physiological activities associated with biofilm growth in attached and suspended growth bioreactors under aerobic and anaerobic conditions.
abstract: This research work evaluated the biofilm succession on stone media and compared the biochemical changes of sludge in attached and suspended biological reactors operated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Stones incubated (30±2°C) with activated sludge showed a constant increase in biofilm weight up to the fifth and seventh week time under anaerobic and aerobic conditions, respectively, where after reduction (>80%) the most probable number index of pathogen indicators on ninth week was recorded. Reduction in parameters such as biological oxygen demand (BOD) (47.7%), chemical oxygen demand (COD, 41%), nitrites (60.2%), nitrates (105.5%) and phosphates (58.9%) and increase in dissolved oxygen (176.5%) of sludge were higher in aerobic attached growth reactors as compared with other settings. While, considerable reductions in these values were also observed (BOD, 53.8%; COD, 2.8%; nitrites, 28.6%; nitrates, 31.7%; phosphates, 41.4%) in the suspended growth system under anaerobic conditions. However, higher sulphate removal was observed in suspended (40.9% and 54.9%) as compared with biofilm reactors (28.2% and 29.3%). Six weeks biofilm on the stone media showed maximum physiological activities; thus, the operational conditions should be controlled to keep the biofilm structure similar to six-week-old biofilm, and can be used in fixed biofilm reactors for wastewater treatment.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Microbiology , Quaid-i-Azam University , Islamabad 45320 , Pakistan.
authors.forename: Iffat
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Naz
authors.forename: Shama
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seher
authors.forename: Irum
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Perveen
authors.forename: Devendra P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Saroj
authors.forename: Safia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis / Q000502:physiology; D000693:Anaerobiosis / Q000502:physiology; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D061249:Batch Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D008903:Minerals / Q000737:chemistry*; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D008903:Minerals; D012722:Sewage
keywords: attached growth process; biofilm growth; stone media; suspended growth process; wastewater treatment