Effect of bioaugmentation on anaerobic wastewater treatment in the dairy industry

The creation of a biofilm as a specialized biosystem, its development, and activity were studied at 3 critical control points of biofilter operation: start-up, transition from batch to sequencing batch regimen, and set-up of stable sequencing batch process. Five variants of biosystems were investigated with an inoculum from specially adapted real activated sludge, enriched with various combinations of 3 microbial preparations. A stable and working biofilm was developed in the phase of stabilized sequencing batch process. The differences among biodegradation effectiveness of the 5 variants were insignificant during that phase and the effect of the preparations was low. The effectiveness of organic removal for the 5 bioaugmentation approaches reached 60% for protein, 70% for chemical oxygen demand, and 97% for lactose. Commercial inocula did not improve final reactor performance over an inoculum from a municipal wastewater treatment plant alone.