Fungal based SBR: a Model Investigation in an Open Culture on the removal of glucose and on the effect of toxic compounds on the biomass

An investigation was performed to explore the capabilities of a filamentous fungus – Trichoderma viride, strain 8/90 - to aseptically grow in a glucose-fed Sequencing Batch Reactor system in extreme environmental conditions (pH 3.5). Microscopic investigations were carried out to assess fungal dominance in the open culture. Batch tests were carried out to characterize the ability of the biomass to resist to toxic shocks, in which gallic acid was dosed. The fungus showed a significant ability to grow and to remove all the organic load at the adopted feeding rate (2000 mgGlucose/l/d), attaining high biomass yields. Furthermore, it showed to be able to resist to concentrated (1 g L-1) gallic acid even though the biomass had not been exposed to it before. Further, the microbial biomass (about 2.5 gVSS L-1) was able to completely remove gallic acid in aerobic conditions in a timeframe of 12 h.