Effects of octahedral molecular sieve on treatment performance, microbial metabolism, and microbial community in...

This study evaluated the effects of synthesized octahedral molecular sieve (OMS-2) nanoparticles on the anaerobic microbial community in a model digester, expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor. The addition of OMS-2 (0.025 g/L) in the EGSB reactors resulted in an enhanced operational performance, i.e., COD removal and biogas production increased by 4% and 11% respectively, and effluent volatile fatty acid (VFA) decreased by 11% relative to the control group. The Biolog EcoPlate™ test was employed to investigate microbial metabolism in the EGSB reactors. Results showed that OMS-2 not only increased the microbial metabolic level but also significantly changed the community level physiological profiling of the microorganisms. The Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene indicated OMS-2 enhanced the microbial diversity and altered the community structure. The largest bacterial genus Lactococcus, a lactic acid bacterium, reduced from 29.3% to 20.4% by abundance in the presence of 0.25 g/L OMS-2, which may be conducive to decreasing the VFA production and increasing the microbial diversity. OMS-2 also increased the quantities of acetogenic bacteria and Archaea, and promoted the acetogenesis and methanogenesis. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy illustrated that Mn(IV)/Mn(III) with high redox potential in OMS-2 were reduced to Mn(II) in the EGSB reactors; this in turn affected the microbial community.