International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Filamentous sludge bulking and foaming problems are common operational problems of activated sludge systems worldwide. The Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) has recently conducted a study to identify the filamentous bacteria proliferating Kuwait activated sludge systems. Weekly grab samples were collected from Riqqa and Umm Al-Haiman activated sludge systems. To accurately identify the dominant filaments, a modern molecular biology technique was used, namely, Vermicon Identification Technology (VIT). Obtained results indicated that the dominant filamentous bacteria are: N. limicola II, Type 1851, H. hydrossis and Nacordioform. Results of the assessment of systems’ performance indicated that the Riqqa system was heavily impacted by the excessive growth of filamentous bacteria.

Index Terms—Activated sludge, bulking, foaming, effluent, quality.

Abdallah Abusam, Moh Elmuntaser Ahmed, and Andrzej Mydlarczyk are with the Water Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait. P.O. Box 24885 Safat, 13109 Kuwait (e-mail: aabusam@kisr.edu.kw, miaahmed@kisr.edu.kw, amydlarczyk@kisr.edu.kw).
Fadeela Al-Salameen is with the Department of Biotechnology, the Environment & Life Sciences Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait. P.O. Box 24885 Safat, 13109 Kuwait (e-mail: fslamian@kisr.edu.kw).

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Cite: A. Abusam, F. Al-Salameen, A. Mydlarczyk, and M.-E. I. Ahmed, "Filamentous Bacteria Identification by VIT Method," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 177-180, 2016.