Carluccio Marco De, Sabatino Raffaella, Borgomaneiro Giulia, Cesare Andrea Di, Rizzo Luigi
Water Science and Technology Group (WaSTe), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy.
Water Research Institute (IRSA) - MEG Molecular Ecology Group, CNR - National Research Council of Italy, Largo Tonolli 50, 28922 Verbania, Italy.
Bioresour Technol. 2025 Mar;419:132095. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2025.132095. Epub 2025 Jan 17.
In this work, the effect of the electro-assisted Fenton (EAF) process on the bacterial community of a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) for olive mill wastewater (OMW) co-treatment with urban wastewater (UWW) was investigated. According to metagenomic analysis, pre-treatment by EAF, while removing total phenols (TPHs) up to 84 % ± 3 % and improving biodegradability of OMW from 0.38 to 0.62, led to the emergence of bacterial genera in the MBBR (R2) that were not detected under conditions without pre-treatment (R1). Indeed, in that condition, Candidatus Competibacter replaced Amaricoccus as dominant denitrifying bacteria. In both cases, the bacterial community composition matched with high simultaneous nitrification-denitrification efficiency (up to 98 %). Finally, Chlorobium (2.5-4.1 %), sulphate-reducing bacteria and Geobacter (up to 1.6 ± 0.4 %), anaerobic bacteria that utilise iron oxides, were observed exclusively with EAF application, suggesting potential for the development of new integrated microbial electrochemical systems.
