Abstract
The effects of inlet VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) shifts on microbial community structure in a biofiltration system were investigated. A lab-scale biofilter was set up to treat eight VOCs sequentially. Short declines in removal efficiency appeared after VOCs shifts and then later recovered. The number of OTUs in the biofilter declined from 690 to 312 over time. At the phylum level, Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria remained dominant throughout the operation for all VOCs, with their combined abundance ranging from 60 to 90%. The abundances of Planctomycetes and Thermi increased significantly to 20% and 5%, respectively, with the intake of non-aromatic hydrocarbons. At the genus level, Rhodococcus was present in the highest abundance (≥ 10%) throughout the experiment, indicating its wide degradability. Some potential degraders were also found; namely, Thauera and Pseudomonas, which increased in abundance to 19% and 12% during treatment with ethyl acetate and toluene, respectively. Moreover, the microbial metabolic activity declined gradually with time, and the metabolic profile of the toluene-treating community differed significantly from those of other communities.
Highlights
There has been growing interest in control of the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) because of their potential to harm the environment and human health toxicity (Zheng et al 2013)
Significant declines in removal efficiency were obtained after shifting VOCs; it recovered several days later, indicating that the system required time to adapt to the new conditions
As reported in previous studies, many members of the phylum Actinobacteria have aromatic hydrocarbon degrading abilities, and some species can utilize complicated chemicals as carbon or energy sources for growth; the capability for degradation decreases with increasing carbon chain length (Wen et al 2014; Zylstra et al 2000)
Summary
There has been growing interest in control of the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) because of their potential to harm the environment and human health toxicity (Zheng et al 2013). Waste gases emitted in high volume containing complex VOCs at low concentration have hindered performance enhancement of related treatments (Cheng et al 2016). This has led to increased interest in biofiltration systems, which have advantages of high efficiency, minimal secondary pollution and low costs (Khan and Ghoshal 2000). Microorganisms play an important role in biodegradation, having direct interactions with contaminants. Significant shifts in the bacterial community were observed during biodegradation, especially in the initial period (Qiu et al 2013).
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