Production, Application, and Efficacy of Biodefoamers from Bacillus, Aeromonas, Klebsiella, Comamonas spp. Consortium for the Defoamation of Poultry Slaughterhouse Wastewater

Abstract

Activated sludge (AS) treatment systems’ major limitation is the nuisance foaming at the surface of the aeration basin in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). This foam can be stabilized by biofoamers and surfactants in the wastewater to be treated. In order to control foam, synthetic defoamers are used; however, these defoamers are toxic to the environment. This study aimed to optimize the production of biodefoamers by quantifying foam reduction efficiency and foam collapse by the isolate pervasive to poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (PSW). Before their identification and characterization, nine bacterial isolates were isolated and assessed for foam reduction efficiency. These organisms produced minute biodefoamers under various conditions generated on the response surface methodology (RSM). The isolates that produced biodefoamers with high foam reduction efficiency and at a lower foam collapse rate were Bacillus, Aeromonas, Klebsiella, and Commamonas spp. consortia. At 4% (v defoamer/v PSW), the crude defoamers produced by the consortium had 96% foam reduction efficiency at 1.7 mm/s foam collapse rate, which was comparable to 96% foam reduction efficiency and 2.5 mm/s foam collapse rate for active silicone polymer antifoam A/defoamer by Sigma-Aldrich, a synthetic defoamer. At 2.5 mm/s, all of which were achieved at pH 7 and in less than 50 s. The application of the biodefoamer resulted in sludge compacted flocs, with filament protruding flocs observed when a synthetic defoamer was used. The biodefoamer showed the presence of alkane, amine, carboxyl and hydroxyl groups, which indicated a polysaccharide core structure. The 1H NMR analysis further confirmed that the biodefoamers were carbohydrate polymers. This study reports for the first time on the efficiency and comparability of a biodefoamer to a synthetic defoamer.