Investigation of the microbial community structure in enhanced anaerobic sludge digestion

• Main Author: Maspolim, Yogananda
• Other Authors: Ng Wun Jern
• Format: Thesis-Doctor of Philosophy
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Engineering::Environmental engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/144046
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Sludge is an inevitable by-product in the current wastewater treatment process utilizing activated sludge technology, and its treatment and disposal could account up to 50% of WWTP’s operating costs. Optimization of the anaerobic sludge digestion to enhance volatile solids (VS) reduction and energy recovery (via methane production) is critical in the face of global challenges today. Process improvement employing biological methods (two-stage system) is preferred due to its high digestion efficiency and relatively lower operating cost and energy requirement compared to other methods. However, the underlying microbial diversity, its interactions, functions and responses to operational or environmental conditions are not clearly understood. In this study, sludge digestion enhancement efforts are complemented with microbiological molecular tools including denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and high throughput 454 pyrosequencing to address this research gap.