title: Biological support media influence the bacterial biofouling community in reverse osmosis water reclamation demonstration plants.
abstract: The diversity of the bacterial community developed in different stages of two reverse osmosis (RO) water reclamation demonstration plants designed in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Tarragona (Spain) was characterized by applying 454-pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The plants were fed by secondary treated effluent to a conventional pretreatment train prior to the two-pass RO system. Plants differed in the material used in the filtration process, which was sand in one demonstration plant and Scandinavian schists in the second plant. The results showed the presence of a highly diverse and complex community in the biofilms, mainly composed of members of the Betaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes in all stages, with the presence of some typical wastewater bacteria, suggesting a feed water origin. Community similarities analyses revealed that samples clustered according to filter type, highlighting the critical influence of the biological supporting medium in biofilm community structure.
authors.affiliation: a Departament de Biologia Marina i Oceanografia , Institut de Ciències del Mar, ICM-CSIC , Barcelona , Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ferrera
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mas
authors.forename: Elisenda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Taberna
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sanz
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sánchez
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000254:growth & development; D018441:Biofilms; D057219:Biofouling; D009995:Osmosis; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D013030:Spain; D064091:Waste Disposal Facilities; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: biofouling; pretreatment; pyrosequencing; reverse osmosis; water reclamation plant