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. 1983 Jan;45(1):174–181. doi: 10.1128/aem.45.1.174-181.1983

Bacterial survival and association with sludge flocs during aerobic and anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge under laboratory conditions.

S R Farrah, G Bitton
PMCID: PMC242249  PMID: 6401978

Abstract

The fate of indicator bacteria, a bacterial pathogen, and total aerobic bacteria during aerobic and anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge under laboratory conditions was determined. Correlation coefficients were calculated between physical and chemical parameters (temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, total solids, and volatile solids) and either the daily change in bacterial numbers or the percentage of bacteria in the supernatant. The major factor influencing survival of Salmonella typhimurium and indicator bacteria during aerobic digestion was the temperature of sludge digestion. At 28 degrees C with greater than 4 mg of dissolved oxygen per liter, the daily change in numbers of these bacteria was approximately -1.0 log10/ml. At 6 degrees C, the daily change was less than -0.3 log10/ml. Most of the bacteria were associated with the sludge flocs during aerobic digestion of sludge at 28 degrees C with greater than 2.4 mg of dissolved oxygen per liter. Lowering the temperature or the amount of dissolved oxygen decreased the fraction of bacteria associated with the flocs and increased the fraction found in the supernatant.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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