“Optimization of the enrichment of a mixed culture for the production of polyhydroxyalcanoates from mussel cooking wastewater” is the title of the Master Thesis of Lucia Argiz that has been awarded by the Linguistic Normalization Service of University of Santiago de Compostela. With these awards the Linguistic Normalization Service wants to reward the academic papers written and presented in galician language. The work of Lucía, supervised by Ass. Prof. Anuska Mosquera, was related with the production of biopolymers using mussel cooking effluent.

Lucía did a master`s degree in Environmental Engineering and now she is starting her doctorate in the biogroup. Her research work in the group is now focused on autotrophic denitrification in mainstream through anammox-based processes where she keeps working under the suprevision of Anuska Mosquera.

About Lucía´s Master Thesis

It has been explored the incorporation of a settling phase in the operation cycle of a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) for the production of the biopolymer poly-hydroxyalcanoates (PHA) using mussel cooking effluent. The enrichment SBR, worked on cycles distributed in aerobic phases of feeding, reaction and withdrawal in order to promote the establishment of a Feast/Famine regime (absence/presence of organic matter). This new settling phase was implemented after the feast phase. The objective was to remove from the reaction medium, specially nitrogen compounds that favored the development of other microbial populations, which did not have capacity to accumulate and which negatively affected to the enrichment of the mixed culture. With the incorporation of this new phase, it has been favored the PHA accumulation capacity of the mixed culture and it has consequently been incremented the percentage of accumulated biopolymer.

Congratulations!

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