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Updated: May 21, 2026

A Novel Bioreactor for High Density Cultivation of Diverse Microbial Communities
Published on: December 25, 2015
Comparison of ammonia-oxidizing bacterial community structure in membrane-assisted bioreactors using PCR-DGGE and
A Ziembińska1, S Ciesielski, A Gnida
1The Silesian University of Technology, Environmental Biotechnology Department, Akademicka str. 2, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland. aleksandra.ziembinska@polsl.pl
Abstract:
The ammonia-oxidizing bacterial (AOB) communities in three membrane bioreactors (MBRs) were monitored for 2 months after an acclimation period in order to investigate the influence of sludge age and medium type on AOB changeability and its connection with nitrification effectiveness. One MBR with a sludge age of 4 days was fed with a synthetic medium, whereas the other two with sludge ages of 8 and 32 days were fed with landfill leachate. The research revealed that landfill leachate can be effectively treated in an MBR with a higher sludge age for longer periods of time and that this improvement in performance was correlated with an increase in AOB biodiversity. Interestingly, the medium type has a stronger influence on AOB biocenosis formation than the sludge age.

