Enumeration of acetate-consuming bacteria by microautoradiography under oxygen and nitrate respiring conditions in activated sludge

Abstract

Microautoradiography was used to enumerate bacteria able to take up radiolabelled acetate in activated sludge using oxygen or nitrate as electron acceptors. In each of three wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) with nitrification and denitrification (N-removal), the number of bacteria consuming acetate under aerobic and anoxic conditions was identical in contrast to the acetate removal rates. The rates were clearly lower under anoxic conditions suggesting that the specific activity of the cells and not the number of active cells was reduced under anoxic conditions. The fraction of bacteria able to consume acetate varied in three WWTPs between 47% and 93% of the total number of bacteria as determined by DAPI. In a WWTP without N-removal only 20% of the bacteria were able to consume acetate under aerobic conditions and very few of these were able to do it under anoxic conditions. The cell specific acetate removal rates in all WWTPs were found to be 3.0–13.2×10 −15 mol cell −1 h −1 under aerobic conditions and between 1.9 and 9.1×10 −15 mol cell −1 h −1 under anoxic conditions.