title: Process performance and bacterial community dynamics of partial-nitritation biofilters subjected to different concentrations of cysteine amino acid.
abstract: Partial-nitritation processes are used for the biological treatment of high nitrogen-low organic carbon effluents, such as anaerobic digestion reject water. The release of certain products generated during the anaerobic digestion process, such as amino acids, could potentially reduce the performance of these partial-nitritation bioprocesses. To investigate this, four partial-nitritation biofilters were subjected to continuous addition of 0, 150, 300, and 500 mg L-1cysteine amino acid in their influents. The addition of the amino acid had an impact over the performance of the partial-nitritation process and the bacterial community dynamics of the systems analyzed. Ammonium oxidation efficiency decreased with the addition of the amino acid, and a net nitrogen elimination occurred in presence of cysteine through the operation period. Bacterial community dynamics showed a decrease of Nitrosomonas species and a proliferation of putative heterotrophs with nitrification capacity, such as Pseudomonas, or denitrification capacity, such as Denitrobacter or Alicycliphilus. The addition of cysteine irreversible affected the bioreactors, which could not achieve the performance obtained before the addition of the amino acid. A mathematical predictive equation of the process performance depending on cysteine concentration added and operational time under such concentration was developed. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:1254-1263, 2016.
authors.affiliation: Inst. of Water Research, University of Granada C/Ramon Y Cajal 4, Granada, 18071, Spain.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Sanchez
authors.affiliation: Inst. of Water Research, University of Granada C/Ramon Y Cajal 4, Granada, 18071, Spain.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Munoz-Palazon
authors.affiliation: Inst. of Water Research, University of Granada C/Ramon Y Cajal 4, Granada, 18071, Spain.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maza-Marquez
authors.affiliation: Inst. of Water Research, University of Granada C/Ramon Y Cajal 4, Granada, 18071, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Lopez
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Built Environment, School of Engineering, Aalto University, P.O. Box 15200, Aalto, FI-00076, Espoo, Finland.
authors.forename: Riku
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vahala
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Built Environment, School of Engineering, Aalto University, P.O. Box 15200, Aalto, FI-00076, Espoo, Finland. alejandro.gonzalezmartinez@aalto.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Martinez
mesh_terms: D056450:Alicyclobacillus / Q000378:metabolism*; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D003545:Cysteine / Q000378:metabolism*; D058465:Nitrification; D009606:Nitrosomonas / Q000378:metabolism*; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D003545:Cysteine
keywords: amino acid; biotechnology; cysteine; partial-nitritation; wastewater treatment