Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 3843

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Bioresource Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech

Effect of hexavalent chromium on the activated sludge process

and on the sludge protozoan community
P. Samaras a,*, C.A. Papadimitriou b, D. Vavoulidou c, M. Yiangou c, G.P. Sakellaropoulos b
a

Department of Pollution Control Technologies, Technological Educational Institute of W. Macedonia, Koila, 50100 Kozani, Greece
Chemical Process Engineering Research Institute and Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 1520, 54 124 Thessaloniki, Greece
c
Department of Genetics, Development and Molecular Biology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 54 124 Thessaloniki, Greece
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 23 January 2008
Received in revised form 22 May 2008
Accepted 23 May 2008
Available online 23 July 2008
Keywords:
Activated sludge
Chromium
Protozoan community
Nutrient removal
SBI

a b s t r a c t
The objectives of this study were the determination of chromium effects to the performance of an activated sludge unit and the investigation of the response of the activated sludge protozoan community to
Cr(VI). Two bench scale activated sludge reactors were supplied with synthetic sewage containing Cr(VI),
at concentrations from 1 up to 50 mg L 1. Protozoan species were identied and were related to the system efciency. Variations in the abundance and diversity of the protozoan species were observed under
various chromium concentrations. High removal rates of organics and nutrients were observed after the
acclimatization of the activated sludge, which were related to the initial chromium(VI) concentration.
Chromium(VI) removal efciency was high in all cases. The protistan community was affected by the
inuent chromium content. Dominance of sessile species was observed in the reactor receiving 5 mg L 1
inuent chromium, whereas co-dominance of sessile and carnivorous species was observed in the reactors receiving higher chromium concentrations.
2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
Activated sludge is a widely used process, based on the development of appropriate bacterial aggregates and other associated
organisms in an aeration tank; these organisms are easily separated from the aqueous phase during the subsequent sedimentation. Ciliated protozoa play an essential role in the whole process
by removing dispersed bacteria through grazing, which otherwise
may result in high turbidity efuents (Salvado and Gracia, 1993;
Lee et al., 2004). The presence of toxic substances in the inuent
may induce changes in the whole food web of the activated sludge
ecosystems affecting their activity and the performance of the
wastewater treatment plant.
Chromium is a common pollutant found in industrial efuents;
chromium salts are extensively used in several industrial processes
such as tanneries, electroplating, textile, dyeing, and metal nishing industries. Chromium may exist in the trivalent [Cr(III)] and
hexavalent [Cr(VI)] state. Hexavalent chromium compounds (chromates and dichromates) are highly toxic and are considered as
mutagens and carcinogens (USEPA, 1998). Due to the severe toxicity of Cr(VI), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry
(ATSDR) classies it as the top sixteenth hazardous substance
(ATSDR, 2000). Indicative limits for total chromium concentrations
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +30 2461068023; fax: +30 2461039682.
E-mail address: psamaras@kozani.teikoz.gr (P. Samaras).
0960-8524/$ - see front matter 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2008.05.036

in drinking water and reclaimed wastewater for irrigation are 0.05

(WHO, USEPA) and 0.11 mg L 1, respectively (EPA, 2004).
Nicolau et al. (2005) investigated the effect of copper in the activated sludge protistan community of a conventional bench scale
reactor and found that low concentrations of the metal, 48
mg L 1, seemed to stimulate the growth of crawling species. On
the other hand, the sessile Opercularia sp. was exceptionally tolerant to copper and was related to the low quality of the activated
sludge. Abraham et al. (1997a) investigated the ciliate populations
in an activated sludge plant, and found signicant positive and
negative correlations between ciliate species and metal content.
Schlenk and Moore (1994) investigated the effect of pH and time
on the acute toxicity of copper sulfate to the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila and found that this protozoan was resistant
to copper sulfate toxicity attributed to an intracellular mechanism.
Madoni et al. (1996) investigated the toxic effect of heavy metals
on the activated sludge protozoan community in a batch reactor
and found variability between the sensitivities of the protozoan
species to the tested metals. Ciliated species such as Chilodonella
uncinata and Trochilia minuta showed the highest sensitivity to
all studied metals, while Opercularia coarctata and Opercularia minima were the most tolerant species. Abraham et al. (1997a,b) investigated seasonal population variations and signicant interspecies
correlations, and found that the major ciliate species were able to
tolerate sudden rises in metal concentrations, including Fe
(>2000 ppb), Zn (>500 ppb), Cu (>60 ppb) and Cr (>100 ppb).

P. Samaras et al. / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 3843

Ciliated protozoa are commonly found in densities of about

10000 cells mL 1 of activated sludge mixed liquor, and constitute
approximately 9% of the dry weight of suspended solids in mixed
liquor (Madoni, 1994a,b). Ciliated protozoa, together with bacteria
play an important role in the performance of activated sludge
plants. The correlation of the ciliate sensitivity to a wide number
of toxic substances may represent an indicator of the operating
conditions of wastewater treatment plants and could provide a
useful tool for the assessment of plant performance.
Activated sludge microorganisms or dried waste sludge have
been used for metal removal from aqueous solutions (Kargi et al.,
2006). Imai and Gloyna (1990) reported the chromium(VI) reduction to chromium(III) in the dissolved phase of a batch activated
sludge system. Stasinakis reported the ability of activated sludge
to reduce chromium(VI) to chromium(III) in a range of concentrations between 0.5 and 10 mg L 1 (Stasinakis et al., 2003). The chromium(VI) reduction was favored in the case of high organic
substrate and in the case of the activated sludge system operating
in an anoxicaerobic mode (Stasinakis et al., 2004). Nevertheless,
the literature data on the effect of chromium concentration on
the activated sludge microfauna are still contradictory. The objectives of this work were the study of the response of the activated
sludge protistan community to the exposure of various chromium
concentrations, the investigation of the potential effect of chromium on the efciency of an activated sludge process, their correlation to the efuent quality, and the examination of the ability of
the activated sludge microfauna for chromium removal.
2. Methods
Six 2 L glass beakers were used as the bench scale activated
sludge reactors at a constant temperature, 25 C. Continuous aeration was provided by three air pumps using two air diffusers in
each system. Start up of the reactor was conducted by the addition
of 50 mL of activated sludge collected from the aeration tank of a
full scale activated sludge unit with an MLSS content of 4.4 g/L.
Each reactor was fed by 1450 mL of synthetic wastewater containing various concentrations of Cr(VI) namely, 0, 1, 5, 10, 20 and
50 mg L 1, respectively. The pH of each system was about 7.5
8.5 and the reactors were initially fed by synthetic wastewater
with a low chromium content aiming to the acclimatization of
the activated sludge microorganisms to the corresponding experiment conditions. After the acclimatization period, chromium in the
desired concentrations was added to the synthetic wastewater and
the operation of the units was monitored as a function of time.
Each system was operated in subsequent cycles of four days. At
the end of each cycle, sludge sedimentation was taken place by
turning off the air pumps. 400 mL of the supernatant water was
withdrawn from each system for further analysis, and were replaced by fresh synthetic wastewater containing the desired chromium concentration.
The synthetic wastewater was prepared by the addition of 2.4 g/L
sodium acetate CH3COONa (PANREAC) as carbon and energy source;
60 mg L 1 NH4Cl (PANREAC), 18.7 mg L 1 Na2HPO4 (PANREAC),
100 mg L 1 MgSO4
7H2O (MERCK) and 1.3 g/L NaHCO3 (PANREAC)
as nutrient sources. Trace minerals such as 100 mg L 1 NaCl (PANREAC), 20 mg L 1 KCl (BAKER), 50 mg L 1 CaCL2
2H2O (MERCK)
and 50 mg L 1 FeCL3
6H2O (MERCK) were added in the feeding
solution (Kargi et al., 2005). In order to obtain a nutritionally balanced wastewater, the composition of the synthetic wastewater
was adjusted to yield an initial chemical oxygen demand (COD) content of 1200 50 mg L 1, a total nitrogen (TN) = 60 3 mg L 1 and
total phosphorous (P) = 18 2 mg L 1 giving a COD/N/P ratio of
100/5/1.5. Potassium dichromate was used as a chromium source
at a concentration of 10 g/L; a stock solution was prepared and kept
in the refrigerator at 4 C.

39

Samples of each reactor were analysed for mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) content, COD, ammonianitrogen, phosphates, and chromium concentrations; all parameters were
measured according to standard methods of analysis (APHA,
1989). Additionally, total chromium concentrations accumulated
in the sludge at the end of the experimental period were measured
by sludge digestion (APHA, 1989).
For the analysis of protozoan community, aliquots of 200 lL
were collected from each reactor at different time periods. Analysis
was conducted for the identication of species in vivo according to
standard methods (Lee et al., 1972) using an optical microscope
(Olympus) at 10 40 and 100 magnication (Jahn et al.,
1979; Lee et al., 1972). Small agellates were counted by placing
the sample on a FuchsRosenthal 3.2 lL chamber.

3. Results and discussion

The bench scale activated sludge systems were operated for a
total period of 120 days, in order to evaluate the effect of chromium on the operation performance. The removal efciencies of
COD, ammonianitrogen, phosphorus and the MLSS content in
each system as a function of time are shown in Fig. 1. High COD
values were measured in the supernatant from each system during
the initial operation stages, decreasing by the operation time and
remained almost stable after the 20th day of reactors operation.
This might be attributed to the metabolic adaptation of the microorganisms to the corresponding chromium concentration, and the
efcient utilization of the carbon source by the sludge microfauna.
The MLSS content of the sludge reactors (Fig. 1b) increased with
the operation time, exhibiting signicant increase after the 20th
day of the operation. The high MLSS value was related to low efuent COD values suggesting the efcient utilization of the organic
carbon source provided by the synthetic wastewater substrate.
The highest MLSS values, 5000 mg L 1, were observed at the highest chromium concentration of 50 mg L 1, and could be attributed
to the increased ATP synthesis, as an additional energy source by
activated sludge microorganisms, stimulating their growth. In
addition, during the continuous aeration of the aerobic activated
sludge reactors, chromium ions might catalyze the extended oxidation of the synthetic wastewater substrate, producing excess energy of that available at normal conditions (Yetis et al., 1999).
Nitrication was more efcient after the 12th day of operation
in all systems; however, variations in the efuent concentration of
NH4-N were observed between the 2nd and the 12th day (Fig. 1c).
The nitrication process was not affected by the addition of high
chromium concentrations. The efcient ammonianitrogen removal might be attributed to the use of activated sludge already
acclimatized to Cr(VI); thus, the heterotrophic nitriers were already adapted to the particular metal.
The efciency of the systems in removing phosphates is shown
in Fig. 1d. During the rst days of the experimental procedure the
phosphate removal was negligible, but after the acclimatization
period of the activated sludge, the phosphate efuent values decreased signicantly at about 1.2 mg L 1 for the system treating
5 mg L 1 Cr(VI). However, after a period of about 2 months for
the system fed by 50 mg L 1 Cr(VI) concentration, a slowdown in
the phosphates removal rate was observed, resulting in higher
efuent phosphates values. The efcient removal of phosphates
could be attributed to sodium acetate provided in the synthetic
wastewater, as the sole carbon source that might take part in the
poly-hydroxy-butyrate synthesis during the anoxic (aerobic) phase
of a wastewater treatment plant, for generation of large amounts of
ATP associated to enhanced phosphate uptake, which in turn is
used in polyphosphate formation synthesis during the anoxic
phase (Kargi et al., 2005).

40

P. Samaras et al. / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 3843

Fig. 1. Efuent quality and MLSS content of the bench scale activated sludge reactors as a function of operation time under various inuent chromium concentrations: (a)
COD concentration, (b) Mixed Liquor Suspended Solid content, (c) ammonianitrogen concentration and (d) phosphorous concentration.

A 60
1mg/L

5mg/L

10mg/L

20mg/L

50mg/L

Effleunt Cr(VI), mg/L

50

40

30

20

10

0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Time, d

B 20
1mg/L

18

5mg/L

10mg/L

20mg/L

50mg/L

16
Eflluent Cr(III), mg/L

In general, microorganisms of the activated sludge reactors

were acclimatized to the chromium containing inuents in various
periods depending upon the inlet chromium concentration; the
higher the chromium content the longer the required acclimatization period. Nevertheless, after the acclimatization period efcient
operation of the activated sludge units was observed, even at the
highest chromium concentration.
The efuent chromium(VI) and (III) concentration as a function
of time in the activated sludge reactors is shown in Fig. 2A and B,
respectively. Efuent chromium and the corresponding removal
rate depended upon the inuent concentration; in addition, inuent chromium affected the extend of sludge acclimatization period
for chromium removal. Hexavalent chromium efuent concentrations were increased during the initial stages of reactors operation,
followed by a gradual reduction to negligible concentrations. Efuent Cr(III) concentrations (Fig. 2B), increased between the 22nd
and 60th day of operation, especially in the case of the reactors
supplied by 10 and 50 mg L 1 chromium. The chromium removal
rates and the corresponding acclimatization period are given in
Table 1, for the reactors operating under different inuent chromium concentrations. Chromium removal rates exceeded in all
cases 45% at extended operation times; even in the system treating
the inuents with the highest chromium concentration, 50 mg L 1,
low efuent chromium concentration was observed at prolonged
operation time. According to the above results, the activated sludge
reactors retained their operability at the highest tested chromium
dosages. The total chromium concentration at the sludge samples
collected from the bench scale reactors, at the end of the experimental period, was measured at values ranging from 10 up to
250 mg/g of sludge depending upon the inuent chromium. It
seems that chromium removal was not affected by the inuent
concentration; however, inuent chromium affected the extend
of the acclimatization period.

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Time, d

Fig. 2. Chromium efuent concentration in the activated sludge reactor treating

synthetic wastewater with various chromium content: (A) chromium(VI), (B)
chromium(III).

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P. Samaras et al. / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 3843

Table 1
Chromium extent of removal and acclimatization period for the bench reactors
operating under various inuent chromium concentrations
Inuent chromium(VI)
concentration (mg L 1)

Max extent of
removal (%)

Fverage extent
of removal (%)

Acclimatization
period (day)

Control
1
5
10
20
50

0
93
99
100
100
100

0
64
46
56
62
52

8
8
16
28
32

In general, the ability of the bench scale activated sludge units

for chromium removal was improved after the corresponding
acclimatization period. Chen and Guowei (2005) reported that
both chromium(VI) and total chromium in the efuent of an anaerobic aerobic activated sludge process fed by gradually increased
chromium doses from 20 to 60 mg L 1, signicantly decreased
after the acclimatization period. The increase of inuent chromium(VI) inhibited the sludge specic dehydrogenase activity
(SDA); however, both sludge SDA activity and protein concentration were increased after sludge acclimatization. Stasinakis et al.
(2003) observed that in an aerobic treatment plant, chromium
inhibited the growth of non acclimatized activated sludge microorganisms at a metal concentration of 1 mg L 1, but stimulated the
growth of microbial population of acclimatized activated sludge
at chromium(VI) concentration ranging from 1 to 10 mg L 1. The
improved tolerance of activated sludge to chromium(VI) after
acclimatization might be due to the increase of chromium(VI)
reduction capability.
Several microorganisms have been reported to be capable of
reducing Cr(VI) to Cr(III), such as Agrobacterium radiobacter (Flovera
et al., 1993), Enterobacter cloacae (Wang et al., 1989), Pseudomonas
uorescens (Deleo and Ehrlich, 1994), and Bacillus sp. (Chirwa and
Wand, 1997). Nevertheless, almost all studies on bacterial reduction of chromate have used pure cultures of Cr(VI)-reducing bacteria under either anaerobic or aerobic conditions, depending on the
specic species or consortium of species. However, conditions
applied in laboratory scale systems using pure culture are well
controlled and usually do not apply in real wastewater treatment
plants. Additionally, it has been recognized that microbial consortia
may be more useful for chromium degradation than single isolates
(Fude et al., 1994). Indigenous activated sludge microbial populations rather than introduced populations may be ecologically superior, since activated sludge systems are considered articial
ecosystems under extreme conditions (Turick et al., 1996).
The improved chromium removal efciency of activated sludge
after acclimatization might be interpreted as a bio-sorption activity including adsorption on extracellular polymers and bacterial
cells of activated sludge (Brown and Lester, 1982) or active uptake
(Lawson et al., 1984).
In the current study, chromium(VI) removal might be attributed
to two potential mechanisms: (a) chromium reduction and accu-

mulation in activated sludge and (b) absorption on cells. The latter

mechanism could be related to MLSS content: the higher the MLSS
content, the more adsorption sites existed and the higher the chromium removal capacity. Nevertheless, the low concentration of trivalent and hexavalent efuent chromium concentrations, and the
high concentration in digested sludge might suggest that the primary removal mechanism was adsorption on the extracellular
polymeric substances.
Ciliated protozoa are widely distributed species in an activated
sludge system but particular conditions may favor the dominance
of certain species which can be considered as indicators species.
Taxa found in the mixed liquor during the operation of the bench
scale reactors are shown in Table 2. In total, 27 taxa were identied, most of them belonging to crawling and sessile ciliates while
only 5 carnivorous taxa were observed. Most species in the bench
scale reactors are common in activated sludge plants, with the
exception of Pseudocochnilebus and Thuricola sp., which are not frequently reported. In the control reactor, sessile taxa were dominant and occupied 56% of the total protistan community,
followed by crawling and free swimming taxa which occupied 19
and 13%, respectively. In the reactor receiving 1 mg L 1 of Cr(VI)
a negligible decrease of sessile species was observed; however, carnivorous protists were completely eliminated from the reactor,
while testate amoebae increased signicantly.
The dominance of the various ciliated groups in the reactors
varied throughout the experimental period. At the beginning of
the operation, free swimming bacterivorous species along with agellates were dominant in the reactors receiving 20 and 50 mg L 1
Cr(VI) inuent concentrations, while signicant decrease of sessile
species was observed. This phase could be considered as a transitory phase, where a non-easily biodegradable substance was introduced, and thus the sessile species, which are considered as
indicators of well stabilized sludge, were decreased (Madoni,
1994a). The increase of MLSS in the systems initiated the second
phase of protozoan succession where dominance of crawling and
sessile species occurred, the increase of these species was particularly profound in the reactors supplied 20 and 50 mg L 1 Cr(VI). In
the stable phase of the reactors sessile species were dominant in all
cases, with slight variations depending upon the chromium inuent concentrations.
In the reactors supplied by 5 and 10 mg L 1 Cr(VI), a decrease of
sessile and crawling taxa was observed while carnivorous taxa
reappeared and free swimming ciliates were present in high abundance, up to 23%, in the reactor receiving 10 mg L 1 chromium. An
increase of both sessile and carnivorous taxa was observed in the
reactors receiving 20 and 50 mg L 1 Cr(VI) inuent concentrations.
The sludge biotic index (SBI) is based on the abundance and
diversity of the protistan community in the activated sludge process during the aeration. The prevalence of the certain microfauna
groups is dependent on the physicochemical and operational
parameters of the wastewater parameters. SBI may range from 0
to 10 indicating the worst and best health quality of activated
sludge, respectively (Madoni, 1994a). The estimated SBI values as
a function of operation time in the reactors treating chromium

Table 2
Most common protozoan species found in the reactors supplied by chromium containing synthetic wastewater
Crawling ciliates

Testate amoebae

Swimming ciliates

Sessile ciliates

Carnivorous forms

Aspidisca cicada
Chillodonela uncinata
Euplotes afnis
Stylonychia sp.
Oxytricha fallax
Tachysoma pellionellum
Acineria uncinata

Arcella sp.
Euglypha sp.

Colpidium camplylum
Paramecium caudatum
Uronema nigricans
Litonotus lamella
Pseudocochnilembus pusillus
Cyclidium glaucoma

Acineta tuberose
Carchesium polypinum
Epistylis plicatilis
Opercularia sp.
Vorticella convallaria
Vorticella microstoma
Thuricola folliculata

Amphileptus sp.
Coleps hirtus
Litonotus sp.
Podophrya sp.
Tokophrya sp.

42

P. Samaras et al. / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 3843

10
9
8
7

SBI

6
5
4
3

Control
1mg/L
5mg/L
10mg/L
20mg/L
50mg/L

2
1
0
0

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120

Days of operation

Fig. 3. The effect of chromium concentration on the SBI value of the activated
sludge reactors as a function of the operation time.

containing inuents are shown in Fig. 3. SBI in all cases decreased

after the introduction of chromium in the inuent. Increased chromium concentrations stimulated severe effects on the activated
sludge protists and thus, a sharp decrease of the SBI values was observed. A signicant increase of SBI occurred after the 60th day of
operation, related to the improved removal efciency of organic
load, nutrients and Cr in the reactors, indicating a well colonized
and stable sludge associated to an excellent biological activity
(Madoni, 1994a,b).
In the reactor receiving 5 mg L 1 Cr(VI), the SBI values ranged
from 1 to 10, indicating various sludge quality classes throughout
the operation time of the reactor; an increase of the SBI values
was observed after the 60th day. Similar results were obtained
for the other reactors; however, in the case of inuent chromium
of 20 and 50 mg L 1, almost full recovery of the protistan microfauna was observed during the period of 100120 day of operation,
with SBI values of 8 and 9, respectively, indicating stabilized and
well colonized activated sludge.
Sludge ocs structure was similar at the start-up of the operation in all systems. The gradual accumulation of chromium in the
activated sludge microfauna changed the ock morphology to less
dense ocs, while in the cases of 10 and 20 mg L 1 inuent chromium concentrations laments were detected. The microscopic
investigation of the microfauna community revealed the presence
of Flexibacter sp, which enhances biological phosphorus removal
but it is also frequently responsible for lamentous bulking in activated sludge. Vorticella sp. and Opercularia sp. were particularly
prevailing in all systems; however, species such as Epistylis, were
present in the systems receiving chromium in concentrations up
to 5 mg L 1. In systems with 10, 20 and 50 mg L 1 Cr(VI), increase
of carnivorous protozoan species and decrease of the free swimming species was observed (Stasinakis et al., 2003). The population
of Colpidium and Podophrya sp. was increased, while Opercullaria,
Aspidisca and Podophrya not only showed resistance to chromium
but seemed to increase in frequency at high inuent chromium
concentrations; these species were reported as frequent inhabitants in industrial wastewater treatment plants that are receiving
toxic substances (Esteban et al., 1991).
The prevalence of carnivores was favoured at higher chromium
concentration as their preys were possibly more affected by the
presence of chromium. Additionally, the use of synthetic substrate
provided to the reactors might favor the carnivores presence; similar results have been reported for copper (Nicolau et al., 2005).
Recovery of the activated sludge protozoan community was observed at about the 60th day of the reactors operation, when the
SBI increased in all cases, associated to increased treatment efciency. It could be concluded that both bacteria and protozoa were

able to survive in the presence of inhibitory substances. Aspidisca

cicada and Colpidium sp. exhibited high tolerance in all cases, while
Acineria uncinata was present only at low Cr(VI) inuent concentrations. The tolerance of A. uncinata in low metal concentrations
was also observed by other authors (Nicolau et al., 2005; Madoni
et al., 1996). Opercularia sp. was the only sessile species able to tolerate even at high Cr(VI) concentrations (Nicolau et al., 2005; Abraham et al., 1997a,b; Papadimitriou et al., 2007). SBI was directly
related to the treatment efciency of the reactors. However,
although the monitoring of the physicochemical parameters revealed a good removal efciency of organic load and nutrients after
the 20th day of reactors operation suggesting the adaptation of
autotrophic bacterial community in the reactors, the heterotrophic
protistan community did not recover until the 60th day of operation. Delayed recovery of the protistan community may result in
highly turbid efuents, increased efuent microbiological load
and problems in sedimentation process (Madoni, 1994a,b; Abraham et al., 1997a,b; Nicolau et al., 2005).
4. Conclusions
The effects of chromium on the efciency of activated sludge
process and especially on the protistan community were investigated in this work, by the operation of bench scale reactors receiving synthetic inuents containing hexavalent chromium at
concentrations ranging from 1 up to 50 mg L 1. The addition of
chromium to the inuent, even at high dosages, did not affect
the organic matter removal and the nitrication process, resulting
in high quality efuents. In addition, high chromium removal rates
were observed at prolonged operation times, possibly due to its
adsorption/precipitation on the activated sludge organisms. However, the chromium addition affected the relative protistan community by shifting from sessile to carnivorous species with the
increase of inuent chromium concentration, while lamentous
organisms were observed at high chromium content. In addition,
the recovery of protistan community due to chromium addition required an extended time, over 60 days, which was longer at higher
chromium dosages. However, the activated sludge acclimatization
and the establishment of appropriate conditions for the reduction
of physicochemical parameters were achieved at shorter operation
times of about 1015 days.
Acknowledgements
The present study was co-funded by the European Union
European Social fund and National fund PYTHAGORAS EPEAEK II.
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