Evaluation of the microbial diversity in a horizontal-flow anaerobic immobilized biomass reactor treating linear alkylbenzene sulfonate

The purpose of this work was to assess the degradation of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) in a horizontal-flow anaerobic immobilized biomass (HAIB) reactor. The reactor was filled with polyurethane foam where the sludge from a sanitary sewage treatment was immobilized. The hydraulic detention time (HDT) used in the experiments was of 12 h. The reactor was fed with synthetic substrate (410 mg l−1 of meat extract, 115 mg l−1 of starch, 80 mg l−1 of saccharose, 320 mg l−1 of sodium bicarbonate and 5 ml l−1 of salt solution) in the following stages of operation: SI—synthetic substrate, SII—synthetic substrate with 7 mg l−1 of LAS, SIII—synthetic substrate with 14 mg l−1 of LAS and SIV—synthetic substrate containing yeast extract (substituting meat extract) and 14 mg l−1 of LAS, without starch. At the end of the experiment (313 days) a degradation of ∼35% of LAS was achieved. The higher the concentration of LAS, the greater the amount of foam for its adsorption. This is necessary because the isotherm of LAS adsorption in the foam is linear for the studied concentrations (2 to 50 mg l−1). Microscopic analyses of the biofilm revealed diverse microbial morphologies, while Denaturing Gradient Gel Eletrophoresis (DGGE) profiling showed variations in the population of total bacteria and sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB). The 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic analyses revealed that the members of the order Clostridiales were the major components of the bacterial community in the last reactor operation step.