| Funding: | DVGW |
| Duration: | 01.04.2014 - 30.06.2017 |
project management / project work:
| Dr. B. Bendinger / Julia Schmitt, M. Sc. |
Situation: | Although methane is widespread in anaerobic groundwater, it is not routinely considered as a relevant parameter in drinking water production. After oxygenation, methane can affect the treatment negatively since it promotes the growth of aerobic methane oxidizing bacteria (MOB). Especially in rapid sand filters (RSF) biomass and metabolic activity of MOB can cause diverse treatment problems like incomplete manganese and ammonium removal, biofilm formation as well as hygienic and filterhydraulic problems. Since a deduction of MOB biomass from raw water methane concentration is not possible, the characterization of MOB is obligatory to identify them as a (contributing) cause for treatment difficulties. |
| Methodology: | In the project, a multi-parameter approach is applied for the characterization of MOB in filter material samples from water works treating methane-containing groundwater. The approach combines relative and absolute quantification of MOB by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and quantitative PCR (qPCR). The quantitative analyses are complemented by batch activity tests for measurement of the methane oxidation potential as well as 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing for MOB diversity analysis. The combined application of the methods allows the investigation of the effect of different influence factors like raw water quality and operation conditions on MOB quantity, diversity and activity in RSF and represents the basis to evaluate the relevance of MOB with respect to observed treatment problems. |
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