“Can nitrification bring us to Mars? The role of microbial interactions on nitrogen recovery in Life Support Systems”. Ilgrande C, Christiaens M, Clauwaert P, Vlaeminck SE, Boon N, Communications in agricultural and applied biological sciences 81, 74 (2016)
Abstract: The development cost-effective life support technologies is a highly relevant topic for space biology. Currently, food and water supply during space flights is currently restricted by technical and economic constraints: daily water consumption of an average crew of 6 members is about 72 L, with an estimated cost of 2,160,000 d-1. To reduce these costs and sustain long term space missions, the European Space Agency designed MELiSSA, an artificial ecosystem based on 5 compartments for the recycling gas, liquid and solid waste (Lasseur et al., 2011). In the CI stage, crew and inedible solid waste is fermented by thermophilic anaerobic bacteria, producing volatile fatty acids (VFAs), CO2 and ammonium (NH4+). In the CII compartment the VFAs are converted into edible biomass, using the photoheterotroph Rodospirillum rubrum. Afterwards, the nitrifying CIII unit converts toxic levels of ammonia/ammonium into nitrate, which enables the effluent to be fed to the photoautotrohopic CIV stage, that provides food and oxygen for the crew (Godia et al., 2002). The highest nitrogen flux in a Life Support System is human urine. As nitrate is the preferred form of nitrogen fertilizer for hydroponic plant cultivation, urine nitrification is an essential process in the MELiSSA loop. The development of the Additional Unit for Water Treatment or Urine NItrification ConsortiUM (UNICUM) requires the selection and characterization of the microorganisms that will be used. The key microorganisms in the biological treatment of urine are heterotrophs, for the hydrolysis of urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide, Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria (AOB), for the ammonia oxidation into nitrite and Nitrite Oxidizing Bacteria (NOB), for the conversion of nitrite into nitrate. The strains were selected according to predefined safety (non sporogenic and BSL 1) and metabolic (Ks, μmax) criteria. To evaluate functional consortia for space applications, ureolysis, nitritation and nitratation of the selected microorganisms and synthetic communities were elucidated. Additionally, urine is a matrix with a high salt content. Unhydrolised urine's EC ranges from 1.1 to 33.9 mS/cm, the mean value being 21.5 mS/cm (Marickar, 2010), while hydrolysed urine can reach higher levels, up to 75 mS/cm. This conditions could inhibit microbial metabolism, therefore the effect of salinity on urine nitrification was also elucidated.
Keywords: A2 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
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“Enabling partial nitritation/anammox on pre-treated sewage with IFAS : aeration and floc SRT control strategies limit nitrate production”. Seuntjens D, Carvajal Arroyo JM, Molina J, Boon N, Vlaeminck SE, , 3 p.
T2 (2017)
Keywords: P3 Proceeding; Engineering sciences. Technology; Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
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“Fast and furious : optimization and validation of high-rate contact stabilization (HiCS) for recovery of organics from sewage”. Meerburg FA, Rahman A, Van Winckel T, Pauwels K, De Clippeleir H, Al-Omari A, Murthy S, Boon N, Vlaeminck SE, , 3 p.
T2 (2016)
Keywords: P3 Proceeding; Engineering sciences. Technology; Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
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“Fertilizer type influences dynamics of the microbial community structure in the rhizosphere of tomato and impact the nutrient turnover and plant performance”. Grunert O, Robles Aguilar AA, Hernandez-Sanabria E, Reheul D, Vlaeminck SE, Boon N, Jablonowski ND, Communications in agricultural and applied biological sciences 81, 67 (2016)
Abstract: Ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOB and AOA) and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) are the most important organisms responsible for ammonia and nitrite oxidation in agricultural ecosystems and growing media. Ammonia and nitrite oxidation are critical steps in the soil nitrogen cycle and can be affected by the application of mineral fertilizers or organic fertilizers. The functionality of the microbial community has a major impact on the nutrient turnover and will finally influence plant performance. The microbial community associated with the growing medium and its functionality will also be influenced by the rhizosphere and the bulk soil. In our study, we used a tomato plant with a high root exudation capacity in order to stimulate microbial activity. We studied plant performance in rhizotrons (a phentotyping system for imaging roots), including an optical method (planar optodes) for non-invasive, quantitative and high-resolution imaging of pH dynamics in the rhizosphere and adjacent medium. The horticultural growing medium was supplemented with organic-derived nitrogen or ammonium derived from struvite. The possible differences in the root structure between treatments is compared with the total root length. Destructive growing medium sampling and high throughput sequencing analysis of the bacterial abundance of the communities present in the rhizosphere and the bulk soil is used to study the growing medium-associated microbial community structure and functionality, and this will be related to pH changes in the rhizosphere and the bulk soil. Our hypothesis is that the growing medium-associated microbial community structure changes depending on the nitrogen form provided and we expect a higher abundance of bacteria in the treatment with organic fertilizer and a higher abundance of AOB and NOB in the rhizosphere in comparison to the bulk soil.
Keywords: A2 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
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“Microbial ecology of high-rate versus conventional activated sludge : environmental and operational parameters shape microbial structure, co-occurrence and functionality”. Seuntjens D, Meerburg FA, Vlaeminck SE, Roume H, Pieper DH, Jauregui R, Vilchez-Vargas R, Boon N, , 4 p.
T2 (2016)
Keywords: P3 Proceeding; Engineering sciences. Technology; Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
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“The nitrogen and phosphorus budget of Flanders : a tool for efficient resource management”. Coppens J, Meers E, Boon N, Buysse J, Vlaeminck SE, , 3 p.
T2 (2015)
Keywords: P3 Proceeding; Engineering sciences. Technology; Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
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“The rise of thermophilic biotechnology for nitrogen removal”. Vandekerckhove TGL, Courtens ENP, Prat D, Boon N, Vlaeminck SE, , 17 p.
T2 (2016)
Keywords: P3 Proceeding; Engineering sciences. Technology; Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
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“Some like it hot : perspectives for thermophilic nitrogen removal”. Vlaeminck SE, Courtens ENP, Vandekerckhove TGL, Boon N, , 4 p.
T2 (2015)
Keywords: P3 Proceeding; Engineering sciences. Technology; Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
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“Struvite and organic fertilizer impacting the rhizosphere microbial community, nutrient turnover and plant growth performance”. Grunert O, Robles Aguilar AA, Hernandez-Sanabria E, Vandekerckhove T, Reheul D, Van Labeke M-C, Vlaeminck S, Boon N, Jablonowski ND, , 12 p.
T2 (2016)
Keywords: P3 Proceeding; Engineering sciences. Technology; Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
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“Transitioning from mesophilic to thermophilic nitrification: shaping a niche for archaeal ammonia oxidizers”. Vandekerckhove T, Courtens ENP, Prat D, Vilchez-Vargas R, Vital M, Pieper DH, Meerbergen K, Lievens B, Boon N, Vlaeminck SE, , 9 p.
T2 (2016)
Keywords: P3 Proceeding; Engineering sciences. Technology; Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
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