ISSN: 2471-9315
Sara Victoria Morales-Cortes, Andres Mauricio Zapata, Janeth Snabria and Miguel Pena-Varon
University of Valle, Colombia
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Appli Micro Open Access
Although nitrogen removal processes in facultative ponds for domestic wastewater treatment have been extensively investigated, microorganism role in nitrogen transformation processes in this systems remain unclear. This research aimed to determine the factors that influence the dynamics of ammonium transformation into a facultative pond located in Ginebra, Valle del Cauca, and Colombia. Physicochemical parameters (temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen) and microbiological (nitrates, ammonium, total nitrogen, biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen and total suspended solids) parameters were measured in-depth ranges of between 0-0.20 m, 0.50-0.80 m and 1.80 m sediments. Result analysis showed the stratification of temperature, pH and OD and the existence of significant differences in these variables in relation to depth. The other variables including the concentrations of metabolic intermediates and density of microorganisms linked to ammonium transformation showed no significant difference distribution along the profile. Correlation analysis between these variables indicated that although biomass assessed in terms of cultivable functional group is not a determining factor in the ammonium transformation throughout the profile, there are differential transformation dynamics of ammonium in the different depths, and they are not just explained by the impact of stratified variables. They could instead be strongly influenced by the microbial community structure in the profile as well by microbial associations between nitrogen-fixing and nitrogen anammox microorganism whose presence was verified with molecular biology techniques.