Di Leto Y., Capri F.C., Mineo A., Mannina G., Alduina R., Gallo G. UO20 2024 The Role of C/N Ratio on the Modulation of Sewage Sludge Microbiota for Producing Polyhydroxyalkanoates. In: Mannina, G., Cosenza, A., Mineo, A. (eds) Resource Recovery from Wastewater Treatment. ICWRR 2024. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 524. Springer, Cham https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-63353-9_74
ABSTRACT
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) can be generated by the products of an excess sewage sludge fermentation process. An efficient method reported is to enrich a PHA-producing community in an aerobic feast/anoxic famine enrichment strategy. This work evaluated the effect of different C/N feed ratios of 3.5, 2 and 1 g COD/g N.
The study was executed on a pilot plant scale with municipal excess sludge as an organic carbon source. System performance in PHA production was monitored over the three experimental periods characterised by the different C/N ratios. Preliminary results show that a lower C/N ratio decreased the PHA production (20, 24 and 26% w/w of PHA produced, for COD/N ratios of 1, 2 and 3.5 g COD/g N respectively).
Metataxonomic analysis revealed an increase of PHA producers’ microorganisms at the ratio of 3.5 g COD/g N. The insights gained from the study demonstrate the negative effect of low C/N ratios on PHA production. Moreover, the metataxonomic proved to be useful in highlighting relationships between operating conditions, microbiota, and the achievement of specific outputs.
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