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Inhibitory effects of long chain fatty acids on anaerobic sludge treatment: Biomass adaptation and microbial community assessment

Szabo Corbacho, M. (author), Sharma, Pragnya (author), Míguez, Diana (author), de la Sovera, Victoria (author), Brdjanovic, Damir (author), Etchebehere, Claudia (author), Garcia, H. (author), van Lier, J.B. (author)

The study investigated the effects of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) on anaerobic sludge treating lipid-rich wastewater. It involved batch experiments with three sludge samples: two acclimated to lipids and one non-acclimated. The experiments aimed to observe the degradation of LCFA, specifically oleate and palmitate, by dosing them at...

journal article 2024

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Microplastics in terrestrial ecosystem: Exploring the menace to the soil-plant-microbe interactions

Zhai, Yujia (author), Bai, Junhong (author), Chang, Pengfei (author), Liu, Zhe (author), Wang, Yaqi (author), Liu, G. (author), Cui, Baoshan (author), Peijnenburg, Willie (author), Vijver, Martina G. (author)

Microplastics (MPs), miniscule plastic particles measuring less than 5 mm in size, have become a concern in terrestrial ecosystems, with primarily agricultural and wetland soils being the soils with highest plastic loadings. The adverse effect of MPs might lead to changes in physicochemical and biological characteristics of soil including...

review 2024

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Phenolic and petrochemical wastewater treatment in AnMBR under extreme conditions: High salinity, high temperature, and high concentration of toxic compounds

Garcia Rea, V.S. (author)

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biochemical process in which organic matter is converted into biogas in a series of biochemical reactions. The development of high-rate anaerobic reactors (HRAR) led to the breakthrough of full-scale applications of AD for the treatment of industrial wastewater. HRARs, such as the upflow anaerobic sludge blanket ...

doctoral thesis 2023

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Poison to Products: On harnessing the power of microorganisms to convert waste streams into new chemicals

Allaart, M.T. (author)

One of the main challenges society currently deals with is the depletion of fossil fuels. To navigate this issue, we must embrace the concept of circularity and turn waste into a resource. Waste streams are omnifarious and their conversion into new chemical building blocks is not always trivial. Luckily, we can take a look at nature’s problem...

doctoral thesis 2023

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Mixed-Culture Anaerobic Acidogenic Fermentation of Cabbage: Decoding Community Selection

Christofi, Andreas (author)

Dating back to 10,000 B.C.E., fermentation has served as a vital tool primarily for food preservation. In the nineteenth century, Louis Pasteur put forth the proposition that the occurrence of fermentation is predominantly facilitated by the presence of microorganisms. Pasteur’s discovery spurred comprehensive studies on microorganisms,...

master thesis 2023

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Self-assembly of ammonium assimilation microbiomes regulated by COD/N ratio

Han, Fei (author), Zhang, Mengru (author), Li, Zhe (author), Liu, Zhe (author), Han, Yufei (author), Li, L. (author), Zhou, Weizhi (author)

Marine microorganisms have an inherent advantage in the treatment of saline wastewater due to their halophilic properties. Ammonium assimilation is the most important and common nitrogen conversion pathway in the ocean, which means that it may be a suitable nitrogen removal strategy under high salinity conditions. However, the targeted...

journal article 2023

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Multiscale models driving hypothesis and theory-based research in microbial ecology

Martinez-Rabert, Eloi (author), Sloan, William T. (author), Gonzalez Cabaleiro, R. (author)

Hypothesis and theory-based studies in microbial ecology have been neglected in favour of those that are descriptive and aim for data-gathering of uncultured microbial species. This tendency limits our capacity to create new mechanistic explanations of microbial community dynamics, hampering the improvement of current environmental...

review 2023

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Effect of operational parameters on the performance of an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (AnSBR) treating protein-rich wastewater

Deng, Z. (author), Muñoz Sierra, Julian (author), Ferreira, Ana Lucia Morgado (author), Cerqueda Garcia, D. (author), Spanjers, H. (author), van Lier, J.B. (author)

Treating protein-rich wastewater using cost-effective and simple-structured single-stage reactors presents several challenges. In this study, we applied an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (AnSBR) to treat protein-rich wastewater from a slaughterhouse. We focused on identifying the key factors influencing the removal of chemical oxygen...

journal article 2023

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Biotransformation of micropollutants in moving bed biofilm reactors under heterotrophic and autotrophic conditions

Ahmadi, Navid (author), Abbasi, Mona (author), Torabian, Ali (author), van Loosdrecht, Mark C.M. (author), Ducoste, Joel (author)

We investigated the transformation of four pharmaceuticals (Diclofenac, Naproxen, Ibuprofen and Carbamazepine) in a moving bed biofilm reactor subjected to different COD/N ratios in four experimental phases. The shift from medium to high range COD/N ratio (i.e., 5:1 to 100:1) intensified the competition between heterotrophs and nitrifying...

journal article 2023

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Chemical characterization and anaerobic treatment of bitumen fume condensate using a membrane bioreactor

Garcia Rea, V.S. (author), Egerland Bueno, B. (author), Muñoz Sierra, Julian (author), Nair, Athira (author), Lopez Prieto, Israel J. (author), Cerqueda-García, Daniel (author), van Lier, J.B. (author), Spanjers, H. (author)

Bitumen fume condensate (BFC) is a hazardous wastewater generated at asphalt reclamation and production sites. BFC contains a wide variety of potentially toxic organic pollutants that negatively affect anaerobic processes. In this study, we chemically characterized BFC produced at an industrial site and evaluated its degradation under...

journal article 2023

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Catabolism of sialic acids in an environmental microbial community

Tomas Martinez, S. (author), Chen, L.M. (author), Neu, Thomas R. (author), Weissbrodt, D.G. (author), van Loosdrecht, Mark C.M. (author), Lin, Y. (author)

Sialic acids are a family of nine-carbon negatively charged carbohydrates. In animals, they are abundant on mucosa surfaces as terminal carbohydrates of mucin glycoproteins. Some commensal and pathogenic bacteria are able to release, take up and catabolize sialic acids. Recently, sialic acids have been discovered to be widespread among most...

journal article 2022

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Characterization of microbial communities in anaerobic acidification reactors fed with casein and/or lactose

Deng, Z. (author), Ferreira, Ana Lucia Morgado (author), Spanjers, H. (author), van Lier, J.B. (author)

Abstract: Protein-rich agro-industrial waste streams are high in organic load and represent a major environmental problem. Anaerobic digestion is an established technology to treat these streams; however, retardation of protein degradation is frequently observed when carbohydrates are present. This study investigated the mechanism of the...

journal article 2022

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Systematic solvent screening and selection for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHBV) recovery from biomass

Vermeer, C.M. (author), Nielsen, Maaike (author), Eckhardt, Vincent (author), Hortensius, Matthijs (author), Tamis, J. (author), Picken, S.J. (author), Meesters, G.M.H. (author), Kleerebezem, R. (author)

The biotechnological production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) derived from organic waste streams by mixed microbial communities is well established at the pilot-level. However, there is limited research on the recovery of the biopolymer from the microbial biomass, while its impact on product quality and product costs...

journal article 2022

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Reconsidering hydrolysis kinetics for anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge applying cascade reactors with ultra-short residence times

Guo, H. (author), Oosterkamp, M.J. (author), Tonin, F. (author), Hendriks, Alexander (author), Nair, Revathy (author), van Lier, J.B. (author), de Kreuk, M.K. (author)

Hydrolysis is considered to be the rate-limiting step in anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS). In this study, an innovative 4 stages cascade anaerobic digestion system was researched to (1) comprehensively clarify whether cascading configuration enhances WAS hydrolysis, and to (2) better understand the governing hydrolysis...

journal article 2021

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Microbial community assembly and metabolic function in top layers of slow sand filters for drinking water production

Chen, L. (author), Zhai, Y. (author), van der Mark, Ed (author), Liu, G. (author), van der Meer, Walter (author), Medema, G.J. (author)

Slow sand filters (SSFs) are widely applied to treat potable water; the removal of contaminants (e.g., particles, organic matter, and microorganism) occurs primarily in the top layer. However, the development of the microbial community and its metabolic function is still poorly understood. In the present study, we analyzed the microbial...

journal article 2021

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The negative effect of carbohydrates on protein degradation in the acid-phase of anaerobic digestion of protein-rich wastewater: a microbial composition study

Wu, Jiahao (author)

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising technology to process protein-rich wastewater. However, incomplete protein degradation during the acidification of organic matter is frequently observed when carbohydrates are present. Literature reports little information to explain the mechanisms behind this phenomenon. This MSc study investigated the...

master thesis 2020

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Influence of particle size distribution on anaerobic degradation of phenol and analysis of methanogenic microbial community

Wang, Jing (author), Wu, Benteng (author), Muñoz Sierra, Julian (author), He, Chunhua (author), Hu, Zhenhu (author), Wang, Wei (author)

Sludge morphology considerably affects the mechanism underlying microbial anaerobic degradation of phenol. Here, we assessed the phenol degradation rate, specific methanogenic activity, electron transport activity, coenzyme F₄₂₀ concentration, and microbial community structure of five phenol-degrading sludge of varying particle...

journal article 2020

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Enhancing Phenol Conversion Rates in Saline Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Using Acetate and Butyrate as Additional Carbon and Energy Sources

Garcia Rea, V.S. (author), Muñoz Sierra, Julian (author), Fonseca Aponte, L.M. (author), Cerqueda-Garcia, Daniel (author), Mollamohseni Quchani, K. (author), Spanjers, H. (author), van Lier, J.B. (author)

Phenolic industrial wastewater, such as those from coal gasification, are considered a challenge for conventional anaerobic wastewater treatment systems because of its extreme characteristics such as presence of recalcitrant compounds, high toxicity, and salinity. However, anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) are considered of potential...

journal article 2020

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Development of a single-stage mainstream anammox process using a sponge-bed trickling filter

Watari, Takahiro (author), Vazquez, Carlos Lopez (author), Hatamoto, Masashi (author), Yamaguchi, Takashi (author), van Lier, J.B. (author)

Anaerobic ammonia oxidation to nitrogen gas using nitrite as the electron acceptor (anammox process) is considered a cost-effective solution for nitrogen removal after an anaerobic pre-treatment process. In this study, we conducted a laboratory-scale experiment to develop a single-stage partial nitritation–anammox process in a sponge-based...

journal article 2020

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Effect of phosphate availability on biofilm formation in cooling towers

Pinel, I.S.M. (author), Kim, Lan Hee (author), Proença Borges, Vitor R. (author), Farhat, Nadia M. (author), Witkamp, Geert Jan (author), van Loosdrecht, Mark C.M. (author), Vrouwenvelder, J.S. (author)

Phosphate limitation has been suggested as a preventive method against biofilms. P-limited feed water was studied as a preventive strategy against biofouling in cooling towers (CTs). Three pilot-scale open recirculating CTs were operated in parallel for five weeks. RO permeate was fed to the CTs (1) without supplementation (reference), (2)...

journal article 2020