Las degradation in a fluidized bed reactor and phylogenetic characterization of the biofilm

Author(s)

L. L. Oliveira ^[1] ; R. B. Costa ^[1] ; I. K. Sakamoto ^[1] ; I. C. S. Duarte ^[2] ; E. L. Silva ^[3] ; M. B. A. Varesche ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Engn Sao Carlos, Dept Hydraul & Sanitat, BR-13566590 Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, BR-18052780 Sorocaba, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Chem Engn, BR-13565905 Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering; v. 30, n. 3, p. 521-529, 2013-09-00.

Abstract

A fluidized bed reactor was used to study the degradation of the surfactant linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS). The reactor was inoculated with anaerobic sludge and was fed with a synthetic substrate supplemented with LAS in increasing concentrations (8.2 to 45.8 mg l-1). The removal efficiency of 93% was obtained after 270 days of operation. Subsequently, 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the sample at the last stage of the reactor operation recovered 105 clones belonging to the domain Bacteria. These clones represented a variety of phyla with significant homology to Bacteroidetes (40%), Proteobacteria (42%), Verrucomicrobia (4%), Acidobacteria (3%), Firmicutes (2%), and Gemmatimonadetes (1%). A small fraction of the clones (8%) was not related to any phylum. Such phyla variety indicated the role of microbial consortia in degrading the surfactant LAS. (AU)