Design of microbial communities in membrane bioreactors: The next generation of environmental biotechnologies

The fundamental idea of the Centre’s activities is to apply a novel approach to reveal identity, function and interactions of key microorganism or groups of organisms involved in selected processes in environmental biotechnology to identify the factors that control their activity and ecology in mixed communities. These control factors will then be exploited to optimise their growth and activity (ecosystem design) through process studies in the membrane bioreactor (MBR) reactors in collaboration with industrial and public partners. MBR is a new technology in water and wastewater treatment and in other environmental and industrial biotechnologies. Three applications of the MBR technology will be studied at lab-scale and pilot-scale: 1) removal/recovery of phosphorus, 2) a new energy efficient process for nitrogen removal, and 3) removal of micropollutants. The research activities include a survey of major European MBR plants to achieve a mutual starting point for all participants. The novel approach will be applied in each case to identify selective factors for ecosystem design or addition of particular performance-enhancing bacteria (bioaugmentation). The concurrent study of membrane fouling in each system along with the development of a model to describe fouling as function of operation parameters, allows for an optimization of the MBR system with respect to microbial as well as membrane processes. This Centre will gather the world-class competencies within Denmark (universities, GTS-institutions, industries and consultants) and complement these with leading partners from abroad to create a synergy required to deliver these solutions. The Danish industry partners are positioned to rapidly implement these developments into products for the national and global market and in so doing create a billion kroner export market with spin off environmental and public health benefits.