F Dilek Sanin
Middle East Technical University, Turkey
Title: Microbial community analysis of anaerobic digesters during biotransformation of nonylphenol diethoxylate
Biography
Biography: F Dilek Sanin
Abstract
Nonylphenol(poly)ethoxylates (NPnEO) have limited degradation in waste water treatment plants especially in activated sludge units. Since they accumulate in sludge, understanding their fate during sludge treatment is important. Proteobacteria is a basic phylum that plays an important role in degradation of aromatic compounds and organic pollutants. In other words, it makes this phylum an important component in the degradation of organic matter in the digesters. It is known that acetoclastic methanogenesis is considered to account for the majority of methane production (70%) in anaerobic digestion processes. Th erefore, in order to understand the eff ect of nonylphenol diethoxylate (NP2EO) addition on methanogenesis, it is important to monitor populations of Methanosaeta and Methanosarcina which are the two main genera of acetoclastic methanogens in operated digesters. Th erefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the distribution and abundance of four sub-groups of Proteobacteria (Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta) and Methanosarcina and Methanosaeta acetoclastic methanogenic groups in overall microbial community in sludge samples using qPCR assays and to understand the response and time dependent behavior of these sub-groups during the degradation of NP2EO in anaerobic digesters. Th e composition of the bacterial community structure in the NP2EO spiked digesters exhibited high abundance of Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria compared to other sub-groups of Proteobacteria and control digesters. It can be said that the members of Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria are better at adapting sudden changes in the environment and may play a signifi cant role in degradation of NP compounds. All of the digesters were dominated by acetoclastic Methanosaeta species.