Microbial community analysis of wastewater during blackwater treatment

Currently, there is a growing attention to resource recovery and the treatment of the source-separated fraction of domestic wastewater discharged from toilets alone, commonly termed as blackwater. Various methods adopted to facilitate the microbial breakdown of blackwater range from anaerobic suspended processes to membrane bioreactor systems. During the treatment cycle, degradation of the contaminants is carried out either on the surface of immobilized microbes intracellularly or through the secretion of extracellular enzymes. Many factors, including the type of treatment scheme, mode of operation, and properties of the target pollutants, modulate the microbial community structure in a wastewater treatment plant. This review chapter aims to provide a basic understanding of mechanisms underlying microbial treatment of domestic wastewater and source-separated blackwater. It also discusses the state-of-the-art molecular detection techniques available to elucidate functional microbial communities and changes in the microbial community structure under various treatment conditions.