Evaluation of Performance of Five Parallel Biological Water Processors

A series of studies examined bacterial diversity and consortial stability in an anoxic bioreactor and correlated diversity and stability with functional performance, mechanical reliability, and stability. The evaluation was divided into four studies. During Study 1, replicate biological water processor (BWP) systems were operated to evaluate variability in the microbial diversity over time as a function of the initial consortia used for inoculation of the BWP reactors. Study 2 was designed to investigate the impact of an inoculum source on BWP performance. Study 3 was a modification of Study 2 where the primary focus was BWP performance and consortia change from inoculation until steady state operations. In Study 4, the reactors were divided into three different operational periods, based on the operational periods of the integrated water recovery test at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in 2001. Differences in sources of inoculum can play a part in the overall efficiency of organic removal of a system. Activated sludge is an appropriate source of inoculum for a biological water processor that treats a concentrated waste stream. Varying the operational times of the influent flow rate only marginally affected reactor performance.