Demonstration of adapted packed-bed bioreactor for accurate and rapid estimation of biochemical oxygen demand: insights into the influence of microbial community structure and functions

This study demonstrated a novel approach to accurately estimate 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5 ) in textile wastewater using a microbial consortium from food processing wastewater fixed on coconut fibers. Although glucose-glutamic acid (GGA) has been widely known as the most preferred substrates for microbial respiration, its calibration surprisingly resulted in an overestimation of BOD 5 in textile wastewater due to its lower utilization rate compared to that of textile wastewater. After being adapted with a new nutrient environment composed of GGA and textile wastewater, the adapted packed-bed bioreactors (PBBRs) was capable of accurate estimation of BOD 5 in textile wastewater using GGA standard solution. Metagenomic analysis revealed the dominance of the genera Enterobacter , Acinetobacter , Chryseobacterium , and Comamonas in the adapted microbial community, which are recognized for their significant potential in azo dye degradation. The imputed metagenome showed an enhanced showed an enhanced abundance of “Amino Acid Degradation” and “Carbohydrate Degradation” functions, confirming the improved ability of adapted community to utilization of GGA in the standard solution. These findings suggest that adaptation of exogenous microbial consortium to a nutrient environment composed of GGA and target wastewater may shift the community to that dominated by strains having both utilization ability of GGA and target compounds which, in turn, enhance the accuracy of the adapted PBBRs for estimation of BOD 5 in target wastewater.