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Biopolymers Production by Mixed Culture and Their Applications in Water and Wastewater Treatment
Author(s) -
More Tanaji T.,
Yan Song,
Tyagi Rajeshwar Dayal,
Surampalli Rao Y.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/106143015x14212658614676
Subject(s) - flocculation , turbidity , wastewater , extracellular polymeric substance , pulp and paper industry , chemistry , dewatering , sewage treatment , activated sludge , suspended solids , environmental engineering , environmental science , bacteria , biology , ecology , genetics , geotechnical engineering , biofilm , engineering
Thirteen extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) producing bacterial strains were cultivated (as pure/mixed culture) in sterilized sludge (suspended solids: 25 g/L). The mixed culture produced higher concentrations of EPS (4.9 g/L) as compared to that of the pure culture (2.7–3.7 g/L). The harvested EPS were examined for their flocculation performance (turbidity removal and dewatering) in jar tests using kaolin suspensions with Ca 2+ . Broth (B‐EPS) revealed high kaolin flocculating activity (91.2%) at very low concentrations (0.8 mg B‐EPS/g kaolin) and it was comparable to the chemical polymer, Magnafloc‐155 (90.4% at 0.2 mg/g kaolin). B‐EPS also exhibited very good flocculation performance (turbidity removal %) in river water (93.5%), municipal wastewater (91.7%) and brewery wastewater (81.8%). The study revealed that the mixed culture consortium could be used for the production of highly efficient flocculants.