Characterization of Extracellular Polymeric Substances (Eps) Produced by Cloacibacterium normanense Isolated from Wastewater Sludge for Sludge Settling and Dewatering

Abstract

In this study, extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) producing strain was isolated from municipal wastewater sludge (MWWS). Growth profile and the EPS production by Cloacibacterium normanense using wastewater sludge as raw material in shake flask fermentation for 96 h were investigated. The highest concentration of S-EPS (13.0 ± 0.8 g/L) and C-EPS (0.3 ± 0.1 g/L) were attained at 48 h of fermentation. S-EPS revealed higher flocculation activity (94.2%) and dewaterability (59.9%) than other types of EPS in kaolin suspension. The dewaterability of MWWS with 2 g suspended solids (SS)/L was improved by 37.6% using 0.02 ± 0.01 g/L of S-EPS and 600 mg/L of Al 2 (SO 4) 3 . The study showed a promising approach of new isolated strain to produce high concentration EPS in sludge with high flocculation activity as well as good settling.