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Continuously-stirred Anaerobic Digester to Convert Organic Wastes into Biogas: System Setup and Basic Operation

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Correlations between molecular and operational parameters in continuous lab-scale anaerobic reactors.

Marta Carballa¹, Marianne Smits, Claudia Etchebehere

¹Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, Rúa Lope Gómez de Marzoa s/n, E-15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. marta.carballa@usc.es

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

|September 30, 2010

Summary

Microbial community analysis in anaerobic reactors revealed that a diverse bacterial community indicates good functionality. This finding was consistent across different molecular techniques, highlighting the importance of microbial ecology in reactor performance.

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Area of Science:

Environmental microbiology
Biotechnology
Anaerobic digestion

Background:

Understanding microbial communities is crucial for optimizing anaerobic reactor performance.
The microbial resource management (MRM) approach offers a framework for correlating microbial characteristics with reactor functionality.

Purpose of the Study:

To correlate microbial community structure with the functionality of continuous lab-scale anaerobic reactors.
To compare the effectiveness of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) in analyzing microbial communities.

Main Methods:

Analysis of bacterial and archaeal communities using DGGE and T-RFLP.
Application of clustering analyses to differentiate microbial communities.
Assessment of community dynamics and diversity metrics (e.g., Ripley index).

Main Results:

Both DGGE and T-RFLP successfully separated meso- and thermophilic communities.
Bacterial and mesophilic communities were found to be richer and more even than archaeal and thermophilic communities, respectively.
Microbial community composition was highly dynamic, even during stable reactor operation, with significant changes observed over short periods.

Conclusions:

A more even and diverse bacterial community is statistically representative of a well-functioning anaerobic reactor.
The study highlights the dynamic nature of microbial communities in anaerobic digestion.
The MRM approach, combined with molecular techniques, provides valuable insights into reactor ecology and performance.