Metabolic potentials of valuable products in activated sludge of treatment plant for leachate of landfill: Functional and taxonomic diversities

Biorefinery, production of valuable products with microorganisms, has a lot of attention. An idea that utilizes substances related to wastewater treatment as substrates for microbes has been advocated. Mature landfill leachate treatment plants are the good candidates because C1 compounds such as methanol have been used as a carbon source for the activated sludge. Ammonia needed to be treated at the treatment plants can be the nitrogen source also. Methylotrophs, C1-assimilating bacteria, are known as producers of valuable products, while exploration of them at sites converting C1 compounds is not enough. Therefore, in this research, exhaustive analysis of taxonomy and functions (genes) was performed with shotgun metagenomic sequencing analysis, as a first step for biorefinery at landfill leachate treatment plant.