Successful bioaugmentation of an activated sludge reactor with Rhodococcus sp. YYL for efficient tetrahydrofuran degradation

•Rhodococcus sp. YYL is an efficient tetrahydrofuran-degrading strain.•Strain YYL was used to augment an activated sludge system for THF degradation.•Successful bioaugmentation was achieved only by coinoculation of strain YYL and the two bacilli.•Successful bioaugmentation of the system resulted in efficient THF degradation. The exchange of tetrahydrofuran (THF)-containing wastewater should significantly affect the performance of an activated sludge system. In this study, the feasibility of using THF-degrading Rhodococcus sp. strain YYL to bioaugment an activated sludge system treating THF wastewater was explored. As indicated by a DGGE analysis, strain YYL alone could not dominate the system, with the concentration of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) decreasing to nearly half of the initial concentration after 45d, and the microbial diversity was found to be significantly reduced. However, after the reactor was augmented with the mixed culture of strain YYL and two bacilli initially coexisting in the enriched isolation source, strain YYL quickly became dominant in the system and was incorporated into the activated sludge. The concentration of MLSS increased from 2.1g/L to 7.3g/L in 20d, and the efficiency of THF removal from the system was remarkably improved. After the successful bioaugmentation, more than 95% of THF was completely removed from the wastewater when 20mM THF was continuously loaded into the system. In conclusion, our research first demonstrates that bioaugmentation of activated sludge system for THF degradation is feasible but that successful bioaugmentation should utilize a THF-degrading mixed culture as the inoculum, in which the two bacilli might help strain YYL colonize in activated sludge by co-aggregation.