Anaerobic wastewater treatment is a commonly applied technolgy for the purification of industrial wastewaters with a high organic matter content. Relatively small, high-rate reactors with biomass retention are applied. The Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Bed (UASB) is most widely used. More than 600 full scale UASB reactors are in operation all over the world, with 40-50 reactors in the Netherlands. Nowadays, the start-up of a reactor is done with biomass originating from another bioreactor. However, sometimes problems may arise:

1. during storage and transport the microbial population may have lost the major part of the activity
2. certain specific bacteria may not be present in the starting sludge
3. the existing microbial population may not be adapted to the conditions in the new reactor and the presence of toxic compounds.

For a long time the microbial activity of the sludge could only be studied by conventional microbiological methods, based on unreliable cultivation steps. It is the aim of this project to develop and apply new molecular biological methods to rapidly screen for most appropriate sludge samples to start up anaerobic reactors with specific wastewaters, and to monitor the microbial composition and activity during operation of the reactors.
The research will concentrate on applied prospectives of acetogenic and sulfate reducing communities in the anaerobic bioreactors. Emphasis will be given to the molecular detection of fatty acid-degrading consortia which form the core of all anaerobic bioreactors. In addition we will analyze the microbial composition of H₂-fed vioreactors that have current practical relevance. None of these anaerobic microbial communities have yet been analysed in detail at the DNA level.
The following lines of research will be followed:

1. characterization of the microbial community in sludge from different bioreactors by the use of rRNA-directed oligonucleotide probes and temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE) profiles.
2. monitoring metabolic activity and occurrence of acetogens, sulfate-reducing bacteria and methanogens during reactor operation.
3. development of an oligonucleotide kit to assay of microbial diversity at the 16S rRNA level

If you want more information, you can visit the next websites containing information about this project:

• Laboratorium voor Microbiologie
• Moleculaire ecogroep projectbeschrijving
• Moleculaire ecogroep afstudeervak beschrijving voor studenten
• Microbiële fysiologie groep projectbeschrijving
• Microbiële fysiologie groep afstudeervak beschrijving voor studenten
• CV van Kees Roest

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