title: High-rate activated sludge communities have a distinctly different structure compared to low-rate sludge communities, and are less sensitive towards environmental and operational variables.
abstract: High-rate activated sludge processes allow for the recovery of organics and energy from wastewaters. These systems are operated at a short sludge retention time and high sludge-specific loading rates, which results in a higher sludge yield and better digestibility than conventional, low-rate activated sludge. Little is known about the microbial ecology of high-rate systems. In this work, we address the need for a fundamental understanding of how high-rate microbial communities differ from low-rate communities. We investigated the high-rate and low-rate communities in a sewage treatment plant in relation to environmental and operational variables over a period of ten months. We demonstrated that (1) high-rate and low-rate communities are distinctly different in terms of richness, evenness and composition, (2) high-rate community dynamics are more variable and less shaped by deterministic factors compared to low-rate communities, (3) sub-communities of continuously core and transitional members are more shaped by deterministic factors than the continuously rare members, both in high-rate and low-rate communities, and (4) high-rate community members showed a co-occurrence pattern similar to that of low-rate community members, but were less likely to be correlated to environmental and operational variables. These findings provide a basis for further optimization of high-rate systems, in order to facilitate resource recovery from wastewater.
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Francis A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Meerburg
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium; Research Group of Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020, Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: Siegfried E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Vlaeminck
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Roume
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dries
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Seuntjens
authors.affiliation: Microbial Interactions and Processes Research Group, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstr. 7, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Dietmar H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Pieper
authors.affiliation: Microbial Interactions and Processes Research Group, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstr. 7, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Ruy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jauregui
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ramiro
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vilchez-Vargas
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: Nico.Boon@Ugent.be.
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Boon
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry*; D062065:Wastewater
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: A-stage; AB-system; Co-occurrence network analysis; Energy-neutral sewage treatment; Resource recovery