Bioaugmentation as a strategy for tailor-made volatile fatty acid production

This study aimed to develop a novel strategy for tailor-made volatile fatty acid (VFA) composition. For this purpose, the mixed microbial culture was bioaugmented by Propionibacterium acidipropionici. Anaerobic sequencing batch reactors were operated with cheese wastewater under alkali pH. While the maximum propionic acid production almost four times increased (3779 +/- 201 mgCODeq propionic acid/L in the bioaugmented reactor and 942 +/- 172 mgCODeq propionic acid/L in the control reactor), there was no significant difference in VFA composition. The gene copy number of P.acidipropionici increased 20 times after the bioaugmentation. Furthermore, the gene copy number of P.acidipropionici was positively correlated with total VFA and isovaleric acid concentration. The relative abundance of family Flavobacteriaceae increased in the bioaugmented reactor, which might be caused by the syntrophic relation between Flavobacteriaceae and P. acidipropionici. The cycle analysis results showed that the shorter cycle (6h) could ensure the same efficiency.

Automated summary

This study successfully increased propionic acid production efficiency by bioaugmenting Propionibacterium acidipropionici. However, there was no significant difference in VFA composition, demonstrating the feasibility of this strategy.