UTILIZATION OF THERMOTOLERANT AND FLOCCULANT YEAST FOR WASTE-WATER TREATMENT

A thermotolerant and flocculent yeast strain J-673 was isolated from the digestion tank of a yeast-activated sludge system for a soybean-cooking drain. The yeast was identified as Kluyveromyces marxianus var. marxianus. The yeast could be used for treatment of soybean-cooking drain water and water discharged from pot-stills of various shochu factories at temperatures over 40-degrees-C. In addition, the application of its flocculent and adherent characteristics to a continuous yeast treatment system for wastewater from a starch-producing factory was also investigated. The use of this yeast enabled saving to be mede in the cooling water used for regulating the yeast tank temperature. The flocculation mechanism of the yeast was similar to that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.