Dataset Information

Feasible and effective reuse of municipal sludge for vegetation restoration: physiochemical characteristics and microbial diversity.

ABSTRACT: The large volume of municipal sludge causes environmental problems in cities worldwide. In this study, municipal sludge, mixed with construction waste residue, was used as substrate to plant Ailanthus altissima. The growth of A. altissima, the substrate characteristics, and substrate microbial diversity were measured to investigate potential recycling and reusing pathways of municipal sludge. The obtained results showed that compared to garden soil, the mixed substrate was weakly alkaline, and had higher nutrient contents, which is beneficial for A. altissima, and results in better growth in mixed substrate. Although the contents of the main heavy metals in the mixed substrate were significantly higher than in garden soil, the values met the criterion of Class II soil in the Environmental Quality Standard for the Soils of China (GB15618-1995). Different substrates showed a variety of microbial diversities. Proteobacteria was the top microbial phylum in all samples, and higher relative abundances were found in samples containing municipal sludge. After growing A. altissima, the relative abundances of Acidobacteria and Gemmatimonadetes increased in the mixed substrate. Therefore, addition of construction waste residue and growth of A. altissima caused a difference. The microbial communities in the mixed substrate with A. altissima are both plant friendly and environmentally friendly. These results suggest this mixed substrate as a potentially feasible and effective pathway for the reuse and recycling of municipal sludge for vegetation restoration.

SUBMITTER: Liu X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6351607 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Feasible and effective reuse of municipal sludge for vegetation restoration: physiochemical characteristics and microbial diversity.

Liu Xueya X Liu Lijuan L Leng Pingsheng P Hu Zenghui Z

Scientific reports 20190129 1

The large volume of municipal sludge causes environmental problems in cities worldwide. In this study, municipal sludge, mixed with construction waste residue, was used as substrate to plant Ailanthus altissima. The growth of A. altissima, the substrate characteristics, and substrate microbial diversity were measured to investigate potential recycling and reusing pathways of municipal sludge. The obtained results showed that compared to garden soil, the mixed substrate was weakly alkaline, and h ...[more]

PMID: 30696901

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Project description:Background:Waste lipids are attractive substrates for co-digestion with primary and activated sewage sludge (PASS) to improve biogas production at wastewater treatment plants. However, slow conversion rates of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA), produced during anaerobic digestion (AD), limit the applicability of waste lipids as co-substrates for PASS. Previous observations indicate that the sulfide level in PASS digesters affects the capacity of microbial communities to convert LCFA to biogas. This study assessed the microbial community response to LCFA loads in relation to sulfide level during AD of PASS by investigating process performance and microbial community dynamics upon addition of oleate (C18:1) and stearate (C18:0) to PASS digesters at ambient and elevated sulfide levels. Results:Conversion of LCFA to biogas was limited (30% of theoretical biogas potential) during continuous co-digestion with PASS, which resulted in further LCFA accumulation. However, the accumulated LCFA were converted to biogas (up to 66% of theoretical biogas potential) during subsequent batch-mode digestion, performed without additional substrate load. Elevated sulfide level stimulated oleate (but not stearate) conversion to acetate, but oleate and sulfide imposed a synergistic limiting effect on acetoclastic methanogenesis and biogas formation. Next-generation sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons of bacteria and archaea showed that differences in sulfide level and LCFA type resulted in microbial community alterations with distinctly different patterns. Taxonomic profiling of the sequencing data revealed that the phylum Cloacimonetes is likely a key group during LCFA degradation in PASS digesters, where different members take part in degradation of saturated and unsaturated LCFA; genus W5 (family Cloacimonadaceae) and family W27 (order Cloacimonadales), respectively. In addition, LCFA-degrading Syntrophomonas, which is commonly present in lipid-fed digesters, increased in relative abundance after addition of oleate at elevated sulfide level, but not without sulfide or after stearate addition. Stearate conversion to biogas was instead associated with increasing abundance of hydrogen-producing Smithella and hydrogenotrophic Methanobacterium. Conclusions:Long-chain fatty acid chain saturation and sulfide level are selective drivers for establishment of LCFA-degrading microbial communities in municipal sludge digesters.

Project description:The construction of linear transport infrastructure has severe effects on ecosystem functions and properties, and the restoration of the associated roadslopes contributes to reduce its impact. This restoration is usually approached from the perspective of plant cover regeneration, ignoring plant-soil interactions and the consequences for plant growth. The addition of a 30 cm layer of topsoil is a common practice in roadslope restoration projects to increase vegetation recovery. However topsoil is a scarce resource. This study assesses the effects of topsoil spreading and its depth (10 to 30 cm) on two surrogates of microbial activity (β-glucosidase and phosphatase enzymes activity and soil respiration), and on plant cover, plant species richness and floristic composition of embankment vegetation. The study also evaluates the differences in selected physic-chemical properties related to soil fertility between topsoil and the original embankment substrate. Topsoil was found to have higher values of organic matter (11%), nitrogen (44%), assimilable phosphorous (50%) and silt content (54%) than the original embankment substrate. The topsoil spreading treatment increased microbial activity, and its application increased β-glucosidase activity (45%), phosphatase activity (57%) and soil respiration (60%). Depth seemed to affect soil respiration, β-glucosidase and phosphatase activity. Topsoil application also enhanced the species richness of restored embankments in relation to controls. Nevertheless, the depth of the spread topsoil did not significantly affect the resulting plant cover, species richness or floristic composition, suggesting that both depths could have similar effects on short-term recovery of the vegetation cover. A significant implication of these results is that it permits the application of thinner topsoil layers, with major savings in this scarce resource during the subsequent slope restoration work, but the quality of topsoil relative to the original substrate should be previously assessed on a site by site basis.

Dataset Information

Feasible and effective reuse of municipal sludge for vegetation restoration: physiochemical characteristics and microbial diversity.

Publications

Feasible and effective reuse of municipal sludge for vegetation restoration: physiochemical characteristics and microbial diversity.

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