Sewage treatment using microbial system

Degradation of sewage

The role of microorganism in the decomposition of sewage and other waste materials has long been
recognized. The conventional sewage treatment involves the use of microorganisms which develop
naturally within the sewage treatment system. In some newer approaches, however, the sewage is
inoculated with a specific microorganism, which has been specially selected for that particular
sewage treatment process. Such organism might be called ‘starter culture’. The use of starter
cultures increases the efficiency of sewage degradation. Following are some of the examples of
sewage treatment by using starter cultures:

(i) Bacteria have been developed which degrade alkanes and aromatic compound at 0-15 C,
in saline habits. These could be useful in the degradation of oil spills in the ocean.
(ii) Starter cultures of mixed microorganisms are available which not only metabolize DDT
and polychlorinated diphenols or phenols but also possess high protease, lipase or
cellulase activity.
(iii) Starter cultures have also been used to deodorise animal excrements.
(iv) A strain of Pseudomonas putida containing plasmids has been developed, which can
degrade octane, xylene, metaxylene and camphor.

The degradation of sewage by microorganisms requires large amount of oxygen, so that in order to
provide room for oxygen, most sewage treatment plants are bulky. For improving the efficiency,
tubular loop reactors and air lift fermenters have been developed. They both have better oxygen
transfer efficiency.

Reducing Environmental Impact of Industrial Effluents

In order to control pollution, industrial effluents, which contain toxic substances, must be treated to
render them harmless. Alternatively, sources of the toxicity of effluents may be attacked.

The undesirable waste characteristics of industrial effluents include the following

(i) Suspended solids and soluble organic compounds, which undergo progressive
decomposition and thus results oxygen depletion and production of noxious gases.
(ii) Heavy metals, cyanides and other toxic organics (e.g. chlorinated compounds in effluent
from paper industry) which are deleterious to aquatic life.
 (iii) Undesirable levels of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) which enhance eutrophication
(excessive plant growth, which kills animals due to deprivation of O2) and stimulate
undesirable algal growth.
(iv) Non-biodegradable chemical and volatile materials like H2S & SO2.

Biological processing of industrial waste

Industrial wastes can be classified broadly into two categories: those arising from biologically based
industry such as food, drink and fermentation, and those arising from the chemical industry.

Wastes from the former are of variable composition and have been treated usually by biological
oxidation. The many diverse activities of the chemical industry generate various waste compounds,
many of which are recalcitrant and therefore, persistent in the environment.

Biological treatment of such wastes offers great potential for the following:

1. In situ degradation of specific wastes using specialized cultures or consortia.

2. Inoculation of conventional waste treatment systems with adapted specialized
treatment system with adapted, specialized cultures.
3. Decontamination and detoxification of spillages.
4. Metal removal
5. Bioscrubbing of odour and waste noxious gases (mercaptans, hydrogen sulphide,
cyanide, chlorinated hydrocarbons).
6. Generation of biomass from wastes
7. Conversion of wastes to methane (biogasification).

Treatment of distillery effluent

The distillery effluent does not contain toxic substances but has high oxygen demand and is
therefore, harmful. The treatments used for distillery effluents involve primary and secondary
treatments.

Primary treatment

Anaerobic digestion of effluents in lagoons reduces BOD to an extent of 80-90%. This process has
advantages of relatively low capital investment and ease of adoption and operation, but requires
larger area of land for lagoons. Therefore, anaerobic treatment in closed digestor involving
generation of biomethane gas is more suitable (methane can also be used as fuel for domestic and
industrial uses). However, concentration and incineration require high capital investment. By
primary treatment, BOD is brought down to 5000-10,000 ppm, which is still too high for disposal,
keeping the standards fixed (1000 ppm for land and 30 ppm for water)

Secondary treatment

Secondary treatment involves aerobic treatment and may be used to bring down further the BOD.
However, this is energy and capital-intensive.

Treatment of chlorinated effluents of paper industry

Bleaching of chemical pulp is an important step in paper industry. Pulp bleaching is normally
performed as a sequence of treatments in order to achieve brightness. Chlorination, alkaline
extraction, chlorine-dioxide treatment are some of the most common bleaching stages.

During bleaching of pulp, therefore, huge amounts of chlorine are ultimately converted to
chlorinated organic compounds, which to a substantial degree, are discharged to receiving waters,
imposing a great threat to environment.

Toxic chlorinated compounds are measured as total organic chlorines (TOCl) or absorbable organic
halogens (AOX). Normally, 5 Kg of TOCl /AOX is discharged per tonne of bleached pulp. In view of
this, more stringent restrictions are being imposed on release of waste bleach waters, so that there
is an urgent need to reduce the impact of pulp bleaching on the environment.

Two approaches are suggested to deal with this problem.

i) Biological methods

In paper industry, waste bleach waters are currently treated using aerated lagoons (having bacteria)
and activated sludge plants. These methods, however, cannot remove high molecular mass of
chlorinated materials. White rot fungi is recommended, since they can degrade polymeric lignin.
However, white-rot fungi have not been used on a commercial scale, due to their complicated
physiological demands.

ii) Ultrafiltration combined with biological treatment

Ultrafiltration of the effluents of paper industry reduces TOCl from 50% to 35-45% (3kg/tonne pulp),
which can be further reduced to 2 kg/tonne by combining ultrafiltration with oxygen bleaching. The
effluent, however, is still acutely toxic, so that further biological treatment is needed. Following
biological methods are available:
 i. Use of aerated lagoons, which are expensive
ii. Fungal treatment, particularly filamentous fungi (e.g. white rot fungus = Phanerochaete
chrysosporum) which can be filtered off and recirculated to the process

Reducing heavy metal’s pollution caused by industrial effluents

The waste effluents of modern industries contain heavy metals like mercury, lead, cadmium which
cause poisoning. For example, mercury causes metal poisoning which attacks the nervous system of
patients. Lead causes mental retardation of child. These heavy metals need to be removed, before
these effluents are discharged to natural land or waters. Some species of bacteria and algae can
extract metal from surrounding. This property has been utilized to purify industrial effluents.

Biotechnological approaches are recommended, where metal extracting forms (mainly algae) can be
grown in ponds, where factory effluents (rich in heavy metals) are discharged. The microbes will
extract the heavy metals and sequester them inside their cell membranes. The metal can be
subsequently recovered from these microbes. This subject is described as Phytoremediation.

The involvement of microbial communities in the biodegradation of xenobiotics

The classification of microbial communities is based on the interrelationships of the individual

species:

1. Communities in which one or more members are unable to synthesize a particular growth
requirement(s) and thus deficiency is supplemented by the metabolic activities of other community
members. It is important in the degradation of many compounds.

For example: a two membered community growing on cyclohexane consisted of a Nocardia sp.
which could oxidize but not grow on cyclohexane alone, and a Pseudomonas sp. which provided the
necessary growth requirements, probably biotin.

2. Communities in which metabolites that are rather useful for the producer organism or other
organisms in the same environment are removed by other community members.

3. Communities in which the growth parameters of the individual organisms(s) have been altered to
produce a more competitive community, stable to environmental perturbation.

4. An extremely important role of microbial communities in the degradation of xenobiotic compound

is the ability to achieve a cooperative metabolic attack upon the substrate.
Individual members of the community do not possess the necessary metabolic capacity to totally
degrade the compound, although this capacity is present within the community as a whole.

5. The importance of co-metabolism in the context of xenobiotic breakdown has been stressed.
Microorganisms growing at the expense of one substrate transform another in one or a sequence of
enzymic reactions.

These reactions are not growth associated in that they do not generate intermediates that can be
used for growth by that organism. However, other interacting organisms may use these
intermediates as carbon sources.

6. Communities have been identified in which the movement of reducing equivalent between
populations has occurred.

7. Communities in which more than one primary population are able to utilize completely the
growth limiting substrate. Communal interactions that occur must, therefore, stabilize the free
competition between such community members.

Several examples of Biodegradation of pollutants

 Microbial transformation of biarylethers, biarylketones halogenated bi benzodioxins and

dibenzofurans is used to avoid the problem of release of effluents with pollutants e.g.
pseudomonas-selectively deoxygende 1,2 position of substituted biarylethers and
biarylketones (e.g. biphenyl-ether, xanthene, dibenzofuran, dibenzo-p-dioxin)
 Microbial degration of monocloro, dichloro and trichloro- methanes and carbon
tetrachloride.