Bioaugmentation of a sequencing batch reactor with Archaea for the treatment of reject water

Abstract

In this study, the bioaugmentation of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for the treatment of reject water from wastewater treatment plant was evaluated. For the bioaugmentation step a product containing an enrichment of microorganisms from the Archaea domain was used to enhance the performance of the reactor for treating reject water. The experiment was carried out in two parallel lab-scale sequencing batch reactors. The first one (SBR A) was bioaugmented with a suspension of microorganisms from the Archaea domain, while the second reactor (SBR B) was not bioaugmented. The results here presented show that the SBR technology could sustain efficient NH₄⁺–N and chemical oxyden demand removal rates and can be applied for the treatment of reject water. Moreover, the addition of microorganisms belonging to the Archaea domain improved the SBR overall operation, especially when the loading in the influent was increased. Administering Archaea to the reactor had also a positive effect on ammonia oxidation as well as on the nitrite removal.