ELEMENTARY MICROBIOLOGY

Microbiology is a branch of biology dealing with microscopic forms of life such as bacteria,
protozoa, viruses, fungi, algae, rotifers, crustaceans and crustaceans. A sanitary engineer is
concerned with the role of microorganisms in biological treatment of wastewater. The major
objective being to reduce the organic content in domestic wastewater. It is therefore important
to understand the requirements of each biological process and to ensure that proper
environment is produced and effectively controlled.

Removal or stabilization of organic matter in wastewater is achieved biologically by using

microorganisms mainly bacteria. The microorganisms utilize the colloidal and dissolved
carbonaceous organic matter into new cells tissues and various gases.

CELL STRUCTURE:

The cell is the basic unit of life regardless of the complexity of the organism. Generally most
living cells are similar. The figure hereunder shows the structure of a cell. It consists of a cell
wall, cytoplasm which is colloidal suspension, nucleus, cell wall and if they are motile – they
pocess flagella or some hair-like appendages.

Generalized Schematic of Bacterial Cell (20)

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SOURCE OF ENERGY AND CARBON

Organisms require energy and carbon for synthesis of new cells and function properly. Other
elements required are nitrogen and phosphorous and to a very small extent sulphur,
potassium, calcium and magnesium. If an organism derives its carbon from carbon dioxide then
it is called autotrophic whereas the one that gets its carbon from organic matter is called
heterotrophic.

There are two sources of energy namely: the sun and inorganic oxidation-reduction reactions. If
autotrophic organisms get their energy from the sun they are called autotrophic photosynthetic
and if they get their energy from oxidation-reduction they are called autotrophic
chemosynthetic. For heterotrophic organisms energy required for cell synthesis is obtained
from oxidation or fermentation of organic matter.

AEROBIC AND ANAEROBIC ORGANISMS

Organisms can also be classified according to their ability to use oxygen. Organisms which only
exist in the presence of molecular oxygen are called aerobic organisms or aerobes while those
which exist only in the absence of molecular oxygen are called anaerobic organisms or
anaerobes. Additionally there are those organisms which can survive with or without free
oxygen and they are called facultative organisms.

IMPORTANT MICROORGANISMS

The sanitary engineer will be interested in those microorganisms which are necessary in the
biological treatment processes of waste water. They are:

1. Bacteria
2. Fungi
3. Algae
4. Protozoa
5. Rotifers
6. Crustaceans and
7. Viruses

Bacteria:

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They are the most widely occurring organisms in biological wastewater treatment. They are
single celled organisms and use soluble food. Their reproduction is mainly by binary fission.
Their size range from 0.5 to 1.0 microns in diameter.

It has been noted that rate of reaction for microorganisms increase with increase in
temperature until optimum temperature is reached. Depending on survival temperature range,
bacteria are classified as: cryophilic or psychrophilic, mesophilic and thermophilic. The table
hereunder shows the temperature ranges for these classes of bacteria.

Type Temperature, 0C
Range Optimum
Cryophilic or Psychrophilic -2 - 30 12 - 18
Mesophilic 20 - 45 25 – 40
Thermophilic 45 - 75 55 - 65

The operation pH range is between 4.0 and 9.5 with optimum pH range for growth being 6.5 –
7.5. Heterotrophic bacteria are the most important in wastewater treatment as it utilizes
organic matter for new cell synthesis.

Fungi:

They are multicellular, non-photosynthetic, heterotrophic organisms. They reproduce sexually

or asexually by fission, budding or spore formation. They are strict aerobes.

Fungi can survive under low pH conditions with the optimum pH being 5.6 and survival pH range
of 2 – 9. Their ability to survive in very low pH conditions make them useful in the biological
treatment of industrial wastes.

Algae:

Algae are unicellular or multicellular, autotrophic, photosynthetic organisms. They are

undesirable in water supplies because they produce bad odours. In oxidation ponds they are
important since they produce oxygen necessary for oxidation of organic matter.

Protozoa:

Protozoa are usually single cell (unicellular). They are larger than bacteria and consume bacteria
as their source of energy. Thus protozoa act as polishers of effluents from biological waste
water treatment processes by consuming bacteria.

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Rotifers:

They are multicellular organisms. They consume bacteria and small particles of organic matter.
Their presence indicates a highly efficient aerobic biological purification process.

Crustaceans:

They are multicellular, aerobic, heterotrophic organisms. They do not exist in biological
treatment systems and their presence indicates effluent low in organic matter and high in
dissolved oxygen.

Viruses:

A virus is the smallest biological structure. They are parasites and as such require a host in
which to live. They are not important in waste water treatment processes but the sanitary
engineer has the responsibility of ensuring that these viruses are effectively controlled as they
are disease causing.

CELL PHYSIOLOGY

Microorganisms as stated earlier are crucial in biological waste treatment processes. Their
growth and the way they obtain energy is complex. It involves reactions aided by enzymes,
which are organic catalysts produced by the living cell. Enzymes are proteins and acts as
catalysts which have the capacity to increase the speed of reactions greatly without altering
themselves. They are known for their high degree of efficiency in converting substrate to end
products.

Enzyme reaction can be represented by the following general reaction.

Enzyme(E) + Substrate(S) → Enzyme substrate complex(E)(S) →Product(P) + Enzyme(E)

BACTERIAL GROWTH

Growth here refers to the growth of microorganisms especially bacteria. In biological waste
treatment, an understanding of this growth is important.

Bacteria reproduce mainly by binary fission. This occurs by the original cell dividing to become
two new organisms. Time required for each fission (known as generation time) varies from 20
minutes to days. If generation time is 30minutes then theoretically one bacterium will yield

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16,777,216 bacteria in 12 hours. However this depends on substrate concentration, nutrient
concentration or even the system size.

If you take a batch culture and observe the growth pattern of bacteria, it will be indicated in the
figure below.

Typical Bacterial Growth Curve

Initially there are a small number of organisms in a fixed volume of medium. The growth
pattern is in four distinct phases as outlined below.

 Lag phase: the time during which the organisms acclimatize to their new environment.
 Log growth phase: cells divide at a rate determined by their generation time
 Stationary phase: population remains stationary. In this phase the cells have exhausted
the substrate or nutrients necessary for growth and that the growth of new cells is
offset by the death of old cells.
 Log death phase: the rate of death exceeds the production of new cells. The log death
phase is usually the inverse of the log growth phase.