Manganese removal efficiencies and bacterial community profiles in non-bioaugmented and in bioaugmented sand filters exposed to different temperatures

CIANCIO CASALINI, LUCILA; PIAZZA, AINELÉN; MASOTTI, FIORELLA; PACINI, VIRGINIA A.; SANGUINETTI, GRACIELA; OTTADO, JORGELINA; GOTTIG, NATALIA

Journal of Water Process Engineering

Elsevier

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2020 vol. 36

2214-7144

Biological sand filtration systems are widely used to remove Manganese (Mn) from groundwater. Different experienceshave demonstrated that low environmental temperatures decrease the performance of these systems.In order to overcome this problem, in a previous work, a Pseudomonas sagittaria strain named MOB-181, thatshowed high Mn(II) oxidation and biofilm formation capacities when grown at low temperatures, was isolated.Here, the impact of summer and winter temperatures on Mn removal efficiencies and on bacterial communityprofiles of both, non-bioaugmented and MOB-181 bioaugmented sand filters, was analyzed. Under summerconditions, MOB-181 inoculated columns showed the best Mn removal performance, removing Mn from the firstday of system operation with an efficiency of 27%; also these columns reached an optimum Mn removal efficiency(95%) earlier than control columns (23 days and 29 days, respectively). Under winter conditions, the 27%efficiency was reached earlier for the inoculated columns than for control columns (20 days and 42 days, respectively);and the maximum efficiency (95%) was also reached faster than for the controls (39 days and 54days, respectively). Bacterial communities profiles were more influenced by temperature changes than by thebioaugmentation process. This work demonstrated the importance of bioaugmentation with the MOB-181 strainto improve Mn removal, by shortening start-up periods, mainly at lower temperatures. Moreover, the obtaineddata will improve the knowledge on bacterial communities ecosystem involved in Mn removal at differenttemperatures and should help in developing novel bioaugmentation strategies for the optimization of biologicalgroundwater treatment plants.