Impact of Solids Residence Time on Nutrient and Community Structure Dynamics of Algal-Bacterial Wastewater Treatment Systems

This work examined the effect of solids residence time (SRT) as an accessible parameter that can be used to control growth rate, community structure, and overall system performance in algal-bacterial wastewater systems. Specifically, the objective of this work was to study the effect of SRT on microbial community structure in mixed algal-bacterial wastewater treatment systems. Wastewater-fed reactors were operated in duplicate at distinct SRTs (5, 10, and 15 days) with diel lighting until long-term steady-state operation was achieved (>6 SRTs). High-throughput sequencing was used to examine the microbial diversity, including bacteria and eukaryotes, over time.