Microbial indicators for the identification of ammonia inhibition in a food waste anaerobic sequencing batch reactors system

Samples from twelve anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (AnSBR) processes fed with food waste were collected, physicochemically characterized, and categorized based on ammonia inhibitory levels as non-inhibitory, low-inhibitory, and high-inhibitory. The respective microbial communities were analyzed for archaea and bacteria using full-length 16S amplicon sequencing. The objective was to identify microbial indicators capable of significantly differentiating the inhibitory levels in a semi-continuous process, regardless of variations in feedstock batches, organic loading rates, process type, or operational duration.