Revealing the role of algae in algae enhanced bacteria consortia for municipal wastewater treatment: Performance, characteristics, and microbial pathways

Algae enhanced bacteria consortia (AEBC) process was configured for municipal wastewater treatment. However, the effect of how algae on the AEBC and its interaction is still unclear. In this study, characteristics, treatment performance, and the corresponding microbial pathways were comprehensively explored with different algae addition. Results showed that AEBC had better settling performance, more extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and excellent pollutant removal rates, while the synergistic effect between algae and bacteria dramatically altered the abundance of denitrifying bacteria. It was found that 77.15 % of C, 63.22 % of N, and 82.54 % of P were removed by AEBC. Trebouxiophyceae were the dominant eukaryotic algae, as well as Saccharimonadales, Propionibacteriaceae, Propioniciclava, and Micropruina being the major organisms in AEBC. The enzymes Amt, NirBD, and 6.3.1.2 involved in nitrogen metabolism indicated that biomass uptake was responsible for nitrogen removal. In general, the AEBC process is a promising method for wastewater treatment.