Olav Vadstein - Micribiomes and Environmental Biotechnology

Question 1

An aerated batch bioreactor with wastewater containing a diverse bacterial community and the substrates ammonia and organic matter is run until all substrates are consumed.

a. Which substrate will be consumed first – and why?
b. What are the oxidized forms of the electron donors and what is the reduced form of the electron acceptor at the end of the batch experiment?

Question 2

Municipal wastewater is treated in a flow-through system based on aerobic heterotrophic degradation. Why is biomass retention required fora successful process, and what is the strategy for biomass retention in the traditional process for biological treatment of municipal wastewater treatment?

Question 3

Mention the most relevant microbial processes taking place in aerobic granules in treatment of municipal wastewater. Why can so many different
microbial processes take place simultaneously in the granules?

Question 4

Which microbial processes can be used to remove nitrogen from water? What is the electron donor and acceptor in these processes? How can these microbial process be selected for?

Question 5

A large, continuous industrial flow of wastewater contains only one organic compound; a complex and slowly biodegradable organic compound, called ContaminantA. ContaminantA is toxic and needs to be converted in a treatment process. A research group were able to obtain a Pseudomonas
strain through genetical engineering that was able to degrade ContaminantA at high rates.

Alternatively, a ContaminantA-degrading microbiome might be possible to obtain through selection, by serving ContaminantA as the only
available electron donor.

Which of these approaches would you chose for designing a treatment process for the wastewater? Justify your answer.