Cultivation and characters of aerobic granules for pentachlorophenol(PCP) degradation under microaerobic condition

Cultivation of aerobic granular sludge for pentachlorophenol(PCP) degradation under microaerobic condition(DO concentration was controlled at 0.2—0.7 mg/L) was studied in this paper. Anaerobic granules were selected as inoculum. The changes of appearance were observed and the variations of SVI, VSS/TSS, PN/PS and the size of sludge were measured during cultivating. The capabilities for degradation of PCP, AOX and COD_ Cr were also studied. Observations on mature granules were carried out by scanning electron microscope, and the results indicated bacillus was dominant on the surface of granules while in the inner of granules both bacillus and coccus were the dominant microorganisms. K, Na, Fe, Ca, Mg, Ni, Co, Mn, Cu and Zn were detected in the granules by element analysis.

Microaerobic Fe (Ⅱ) oxidation coupled to carbon assimilation processes driven by microbes from paddy soil

Microaerobic Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation process at neutral pH, driven by microbes can couple to carbon assimilation process in iron-rich freshwater and marine environments;however, few studies report such coupled processes in paddy soil of the critical zone in South China. In this study, rhizosphere soil from flooded paddy field was used as the inoculum to enrich the microaerophilic Fe(Ⅱ)-oxidizing bacteria(FeOB) in gradient tubes with different Fe(Ⅱ) substrates(FeS and FeCO_3) and ^(13)C-biocarbonate as inorganic carbon source to track the carbon assimilation. Kinetics of Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation and biomineralization were analyzed, and the composition and abundance of the microbial community were profiled using 16 S rRNA gene-based highthroughput sequencing. Results showed that microbial cell bands were formed 0.5–1.0 cm below the medium surface in the inoculated tubes with Fe(Ⅱ) substances, while no cell band was found in the non-inocula controls. The protein concentrations in the cell bands reached the highest values at 18.7–22.9 mg m^L(-1) on 6 d in the inocula tubes with Fe(Ⅱ) substrates. A plateau of the yields of ^(13)C-biocarbonate incorporation was observed during 6–15 d at 0.44–0.54% and 1.61–1.98% in the inocula tubes with FeS and FeCO_3, respectively. The inocula tube with FeS showed a higher Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation rate of 0.156 mmol L^(-1) d^(-1) than that with FeCO_3(0.106 mmol L^(-1) d^(-1)). Analyses of X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed that amorphous iron oxide was formed on the surface of rod-shaped bacteria after Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation.Relative to the agar only control, the abundances of Clostridium and Pseudogulbenkiania increased in the inocula tube with FeS,while those of Vogesella, Magnetospirillum, Solitalea, and Oxalicibacterium increased in the inocula tube with FeCO_3, all of which might be the potential microaerophilic FeOB in paddy soil. The findings in this study suggest that microbes that couple microaerobic Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation to carbon assimilation existed in the paddy soil, which provides an insight into the iron-carbon coupling transformation under microaerobic conditions in the critical zone of the iron-rich red soil.