High-rate co-treatment of purified terephthalic acid and dimethyl terephthalic acid manufacturing wastewaters by a mesophilic upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor and microbial ecology relevant to aromatic compounds degradation

In this study, in order to examine the performance of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor for treating high organic loading purified terephthalic acid/dimethyl terephthalate wastewater, we evaluated the removal characteristics with continuous reactor operation for 518 days. In addition, to elucidate the microbial interactions and metabolic functions in the reactor, we performed 16S rRNA gene sequence and shotgun metagenomic analyses of the granular sludge.