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Microbial community dynamics reflect reactor stability during the anaerobic digestion of a very high strength and sulfate‐rich vinasse
Author(s) -
Jiménez Janet,
Barrera Ernesto L,
De Vrieze Jo,
Boon Nico,
DeMeester Steven,
Spanjers Henri,
Romero Osvaldo Romero,
Dewulf Jo
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.5449
Subject(s) - microbial population biology , anaerobic digestion , vinasse , methanosaeta , sulfate reducing bacteria , organic matter , sulfate , chemistry , environmental chemistry , food science , bacteria , pulp and paper industry , methane , biology , ecology , fermentation , genetics , organic chemistry , engineering
BACKGROUND Microbial community dynamics during the anaerobic digestion of vinasse has been little studied. However, having knowledge about it is essential for early detection of reactor operational difficulties to apply preventive actions. This research studies the microbial community dynamics in the anaerobic digestion of vinasse, linking to experimental observations about product yields and organic matter degradation. RESULTS Methane and sulfide yields decreased with increasing SO 4 2‐ /COD ratio, while the fraction of organic matter degraded by sulfate reducing bacteria increased from 4.5 ± 0.3% to 27.1 ± 0.6%. The archaeal community showed that acetoclastic Methanosaetaceae were little affected by the increase of the SO 4 2‐ /COD ratio, in contrast to the Methanomicrobiales and Methanobacteriales population, which decreased during the experiment. The total bacterial diversity was influenced mainly by substrate composition, showing that the increase of the SO 4 2‐ /COD ratio above 0.10 shifted the bacterial community to a lower richness. CONCLUSION These results provide knowledge on the dynamics of the microbial communities, which can be useful to control the anaerobic digestion of sulfate‐rich vinasses, showing that reactor stability equates to the higher ratios between total methanogens and total bacteria gene copy numbers, whereas operational difficulties can be associated to lower bacterial richness and higher community organization. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry