Synergy of carbon and nitrogen removal of a co-culture of two aerobic denitrifying bacterial strains, Acinetobacter sp. GA and Pseudomonas sp. GP

Abstract

Two newly isolated aerobic denitrifying bacterial strains (Acinetobacter sp. GA and Pseudomonas sp. GP) were co-cultured to investigate the synergy of carbon and nitrogen removal of different functional bacteria. The co-culture showed higher efficiency for removing total organic carbon (TOC) and total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) than strain GA or GP cultured separately. The inoculation ratio of 50 (strain GA/GP) was advantageous for the TOC and TDN removal efficiencies of the co-culture. The sequential co-culture tests showed that strain GP being inoculated after strain GA was inoculated for 36 h increased the TDN removal efficiency from 53.3% to 86.8%. This finding indicated that the activity of strain GA was important in the co-culture system, and the sequential co-culture could be advantageous to the synergistic effect of strains GA and GP. The co-culture of different functional bacteria can be an alternative method for improving the performance of aerobic denitrifying microorganisms for pollutant removal.