Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Microbial community structure and pharmaceuticals and personal care products removal in a membrane bioreactor seeded with aerobic granular sludge

  • Environmental biotechnology
  • Published:
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A process involving the use of membrane bioreactor seeded with aerobic granular sludge (GMBR) was applied to the treatment of sewage containing pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). The removal effects of five kinds of medicines in the reactor were investigated, and the microbial communities were constructed by polymerase chain reaction and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. We also determined the effects of different sludge retention and hydraulic retention times (SRT and HRT, respectively) and influent organic loading on GMBR’s efficiency in processing sewage containing PPCPs. The removal effects of the GMBR on five PPCPs varied. Using the GMBR, the removal rates of prednisolone, naproxen and norfloxacin were 98.56, 84.02 and 87.85 %, respectively. The removal rates of sulfamethoxazole and ibuprofen were 77.83 and 63.32 %, respectively. In the system, PPCP drugs had relatively less effect on microbial diversity. A certain succession was observed in the structural variation of microbial species in the GMBR. Microorganisms that can degrade PPCPs gradually accumulated, and antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, such as Firmicutes sp., Aeromonas sp. and Nitrospira sp., served a key function in the treatment of sewage containing antibiotics. Long SRT and HRT during the GMBR process can facilitate the removal of most PPCPs. The system efficiently removed PPCPs at high influent organic loading.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aminov RI, Chee-Sanford JC, Garrigues N, Teferedegne B, Krapac IJ, White BA, Mackie RI (2002) Development, validation, and application of PCR primers for detection of tetracycline efflux genes of gram-negative bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 68:1786–1793

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beun JJ, Hendriks A, van Loosdrecht MCM, Morgenroth E, Wilderer PA, Heijnen JJ (1999) Aerobic granulation in a sequencing batch reactor. Water Res 33:2283–2290

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carballam OF, Lema JM, Llompart M, García-Jares C, Rodríguez I, Gómez M, Ternes T (2004) Behavior of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and hormones in a sewage treatment plant. Water Res 38:2918–2926

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cirja M, Ivashechkin P, Schäffer A, Corvini PFX (2008) Factors affecting the removal of organic micro-pollutants from wastewater in conventional treatment plants (CTP) and membrane bioreactors (MBR). Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 7:61

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dang Y, Ye JX, Mu YJ, Qiu B, Sun DZ (2013) Effective anaerobic treatment of fresh leachate from MSW incineration plant and dynamic characteristics of microbial community in granular sludge. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97:10563–10574

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Kreuk MK, van Loosdrecht MCM (2006) Formation of aerobic granules with domestic sewage. J Environ Eng – ASCE 132:694–697

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Du B, Zhang PY, Zhang ZL, Yu G (2004) Preliminary investigation on endocrine disrupting chemicals in a swage treatment plant of Beijing. Environ Sci 25:114–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Gros M, Petrovi M, Barcelo D (2006) Development of a multi-residue analytical methodology based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for screening and trace level determination of pharmaceuticals in surface and wastewaters. Talanta 70(4):678

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guo MT, Hu HY, Wang C (2005) Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in urban swage and their removal characteristics. China Water & Wastewater 21:25–27

  • Han D, Xue G, Hong FY, Gao P, Wang YH (2008) The formation of aerobic granular sludge in a integrated MBR and its influence to membrane fouling. Energy Environ 1:69–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Hugenholtz P, Tyson GW, Webb RI, Wagner AM, Blackall LL (2001) Investigation of candidate division TM7, a recently recognized major lineage of the domain bacteria with no known pure-culture representatives. Appl Environ Microbiol 67:411–419

  • Jia RY, Xia SQ, Zhang SF (2011) Comparison of antibiotics removal performance and microbial community structures between two different MBR processes. Water Purif Technol 30:28–33

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jin SW, Xu Y, Hui Y, Liao T (2005) Quantitative determination of 8 kinds of Estrogenic compound in wastewater. China Water & Wastewater 21:94–97

  • Kong XQ, Ma N (2007) Principle of growing and decomposing about branched  zoogloea in activated sludge. J Wuhan Univ Technol 29:47–50

  • Lettinga G, Hulshoff Pol LW, Koster IW, Wiegant WM, De Zeeuw WJ, Rinzema A, Grin PC, Roersma RE, Hobma SW (1984) High-rate anaerobic wastewater treatment using the UASB reactor under a wide range of temperature conditions. Biotechnol Genet Eng Rev 2:253–284

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li AJ, Li XY (2009) Selective sludge discharge as the determining factor in SBR aerobic granulation: numerical modeling and experimental verification. Water Res 43:3387–3396

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lin K, Gan J (2011) Sorption and degradation of wastewater-associated non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics in soils. Chemosphere 83:240

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Linda, A (2006) Public health goal for N-nitroso-dimethylamine in drinking Water. Pesticide and Environmental Toxicology Branch Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment California Environmental Protection Agency

  • Liu Y, Tay JH (2004) State of the art of biogranulation technology for wastewater treatment. Biotechnol Adv 22:533–563

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu QS, Tay JH, Liu Y (2003) Substrate concentrationindependent aerobic granulation in sequential aerobic sludge blanket reactor. Environ Technol 24:1235–1242

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu XY, Wang BJ, Zhao KX, Liu L, Jiang CY, Liu SJ (2008) Bacterial diversity in a sequencing batch reactor treating nitrogen-containing aromatic wastewater. Environ Sci 29:2564–2570

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgenroth ET, Charden MCM, van Loosdrecht JJ, Heijnen PA, Wilderer (1997) Aerobic granular sludge in a sequencing batch reactor. Water Res 31:3191–3194

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Niemi RM, Heiskanen I, Heine R, Rapala J (2009) Previously uncultured beta-Proteobacteria dominate in biologically active granular activated carbon (BAC) filters. Water Res 43:5075–5086

  • Qiao TJ (2011) The efficiency and mechanism of ultrafiltration composite process with activated carbon to remove the typical PPCPs in water. Tsinghua University, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Rouxhet PG, Mozes N (1990) Physical chemistry of the interaction between attached microorganism and their support. Water Sci Technol 22:1–16

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • SEPA, The Editorial Committee of Water and Wastewater Monitoring and Analysis Methods (2002) Water and wastewater monitoring and analysis methods(The Fourth Edition). China Environmental Science Press, Beijing, pp 96–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Su KZ, Yu HQ (2005) Formation and characterization of aerobic granules in a sequencing batch reactor treating soybean processing wastewater. Environ Sci Technol 39:2818–2827

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Teng H, Yeh TS, Hsu LY (1998) Preparation of activated carbon from bituminous coal with phosphoric acid activation. Carbon 36:1387–1395

  • Weber SD, Ludwig W, Schleifer KH, Fried J (2007) Microbial composition and structure of aerobic granular sewage biofilms. Appl Environ Microbiol 73:6233–6240

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wu CY (2013) Comparisons between membrane bioreactor and sequencing batch reactor on removal of typical pharmaceuticals and personal care products in municipal wastewater. Environ Chem 32:1674–1679

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wu CX, Spongberg AL, Witter JD (2009) Sorption and biodegradation of selected antibiotics in biosolids. J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng 44:454-461

  • Yang Qi (2011) Study on removal-effect of domestic swage containing typical PPCPs in membrane bio-reactors and influences on MBR. Ph.D. thesis, Shanghai Jiaotong University

  • Zhao LL, Wang HY, Yang HF, He Z, Zhou YX, Zhang L, Pang ZH (2011) Bacterial diversity of the combined ozonation ASBR/SBR sludge reduction with simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal process using PCR-DGGE. J Environ Eng Technol 1:123–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou HD (2008) Distribution and move of micro organic pollutions in domestic wastewater. Postdoctoral Research Report of Tsinghua University, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 5126803), the Funds for Creative Research Groups of China (No. 51121062), the Research Project for Education Department of Gansu Province (No. 1205ZTC032), the College Students Training Project for Creative and Entrepreneurship of China (No. 121073115) and the Excellent Young Teachers in Lanzhou University of Technology Training Project (No. 1005ZCX016).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Petrochemical Technology, Lanzhou University of Technology, 730050, Lanzhou, China

    Zhao Xia, Wang Xiao-chun, Xu Hao & Zhang Qing-fang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, 150090, Harbin, China

    Zhao Xia & Chen Zhong-lin

Authors
  1. Zhao Xia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wang Xiao-chun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Chen Zhong-lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Xu Hao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Zhang Qing-fang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhao Xia.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Xia, Z., Xiao-chun, W., Zhong-lin, C. et al. Microbial community structure and pharmaceuticals and personal care products removal in a membrane bioreactor seeded with aerobic granular sludge. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 425–433 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5984-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5984-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation