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Updated: Jan 20, 2026

A Novel Bioreactor for High Density Cultivation of Diverse Microbial Communities
Published on: December 25, 2015
Effect of increasing salinity and low C/N ratio on the performance and microbial community of a sequencing batch
Daying Chen1, Zhimin Wang1, Minglu Zhang2
1Beijing Engineering Research Center of Environmental Material for Water Purification, College of Chemical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of increasing salinity on the performance and microbial community structure in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating low C/N ratio wastewater. The SBR was subjected to a gradual increased salinity from 0 wt% to3.0 wt% under low Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)/N ratio, operating for 80 days. The study results indicated that high salinity decreased the removal efficiency of ammonium () from 77.09% (1.0 wt%) to 45.7% (3.0wt%). The organic matter removal are not significantly affected by the high salinity. Non-metric Multi-Dimensional Scaling (NMDS) analysis showed that the gradual increased salinity altered the overall bacterial community structure, and low salinity (1wt%) promoted the bacterial diversity, while high salinity (2 and 3 wt%) significantly decreased the bacterial diversity in low C/N ratio activated sludge system. Further analysis revealed that two genera related to nitrification process (unclassified-Nitrosomonadales and g-Nitrospira) were inhibited, while a genus related to organic removal (Piscicoccus) and three genera related to denitrification (Rodobacteraceae, Denitromonas and Hyphomicrobium) increased significantly at a salinity of 3 wt%. This study provides insights of shifts in the bacteria community under the stress of high salinity in low C/N ratio of activated sludge systems.
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