A novel technology for quick acclimation of an anaerobic microbial consortia used for biodegrading teraphthalic acid (TA)

The seed sludge originated from a methane fermentation reactor was enriched and acclimated with TA as sole carbon source under nitrate respiration mode first for 6 week, and then can be turned to methane fermentation conditions. After 6 weeks processing, the specific rate of TA degradation under nitrate respiration mode reached 23.8 mgTA/(L.gVSS), more than two times of that under methane fermentation mode 11.4 mg TA/(L.gVSS). The TA reductive cleavers' population density increased about 6 times and 20 times after 30 days and 90 days acclimation. After a total of 90 days for the enrichment and acclimation, the fermentative bacteria which originally existed in the seed sludge nearly disappeared, and instead of them, the TA reductive and cleaving bacteria group was formed in the new consortia, which was confirmed by the MPN counts and roll tube counts. Compared with the control experiment, the acclimation period can be shortened by about 50%.