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The Detection of Acinetobacter In Activated Sludge and Its Possible Role in Biological Phosphorus Removal

Thesis (DSc)--University of Pretoria, 1984.

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Other Authors: Steyn, P.L.
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2022
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Steyn, P.L.
author_browse Steyn, P.L.
author_facet Steyn, P.L.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (DSc)--University of Pretoria, 1984.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/85493
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:07.008Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2022
publishDateRange 2022
publishDateSort 2022
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/85493 The Detection of Acinetobacter In Activated Sludge and Its Possible Role in Biological Phosphorus Removal Steyn, P.L. Buchan, L. Cloete, Thomas Eugene UCTD Detection of Acinetobacter Activated Sludge Biological Phosphorus Removal Thesis (DSc)--University of Pretoria, 1984. Biological phosphorus removal in activated sludge is not fully understood. Acinetobacter has been implicated as the principal phosphorus removing agent. A fluorescent antibody and Acridine Orange staining technique combined with mem brane filtration and epifluorescence microscopy was developed and applied for the in situ identification and enumeration of Acinetobacter and the total number of bacteria in activated sludge after chemical dispersion or sonication of activated sludge in a 0,5 % tripolyphosphate solution. Whereas it has been genera1ly assumed that all Acinetobacter cells were relatively large. the use of different membrane pore sizes combined with fluorescent antibody staining has shown that these cells can range from relatively very small to very large cells. This confirms the erroneous conclusions that can be made by considering morphological characteristics only for identification of bacteria using light microscopy. The Acinetobacter numbers in the different activated sludge zones differed significantly in time. The primary aerobic and secondary anoxic Acinctnhacter numbers differed significantly from the other zones when using membrane filters with a pore size of 0.45 μm suggesting that the size of these bacteria increased with higher metabolic activity in the primary aerobic zone resulting in carryover into the secondary anoxic zone. Although statistical analysis showed no correlation between Acinetobacter numbers and phosphorus removal in activated sludge, density gradient centrifugation of activated sludge revealed that Acinetobacter was associated with phosphorus in activated sludge. Using transmission electron microscopy, the cell volume of volutin containing cells and the volutin volume were determined. This confirmed that only large Acinetobacter cells contained phosphorus. Electron dispersive micro-analysis of X-rays (EDAX) confirmed that the volutin contained phosphorus. Using Acinetobacter numbers, volutin volumes, densities and phosphorus content it was determined that a maximum of 34% of the observed phosphorus removal in activated sludge could be removed by Acinetobacter as polyphosphate. Other organisms or mechanisms therefore, also had to be involved in the observed phosphorus removal. Microbiology and Plant Pathology DSc Unrestricted 2022-05-17T11:21:54Z 2022-05-17T11:21:54Z 21/7/2021 1984 Thesis * https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85493 en © 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Detection of Acinetobacter
Activated Sludge
Biological Phosphorus Removal
The Detection of Acinetobacter In Activated Sludge and Its Possible Role in Biological Phosphorus Removal
title The Detection of Acinetobacter In Activated Sludge and Its Possible Role in Biological Phosphorus Removal
title_full The Detection of Acinetobacter In Activated Sludge and Its Possible Role in Biological Phosphorus Removal
title_fullStr The Detection of Acinetobacter In Activated Sludge and Its Possible Role in Biological Phosphorus Removal
title_full_unstemmed The Detection of Acinetobacter In Activated Sludge and Its Possible Role in Biological Phosphorus Removal
title_short The Detection of Acinetobacter In Activated Sludge and Its Possible Role in Biological Phosphorus Removal
title_sort detection of acinetobacter in activated sludge and its possible role in biological phosphorus removal
topic UCTD
Detection of Acinetobacter
Activated Sludge
Biological Phosphorus Removal
url https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85493