SELECTION OF THE LIPID ACCUMULATOR MICROTHRIX PARVICELLA IN MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS FOR SUBSEQUENT BIODIESEL PRODUCTION

The current trend of more circular use of resources have driven the new practices in wastewater treatment that propose a transition from taking wastewater as just a waste to wastewater as a source of resources. Thus, lipids accumulated by the microbial biomass represent a potentially important stock of resources for biodiesel production. Within this study, a lipid accumulating bacterium Microthrix parvicella (M. parvicella), was studied using a molecular biology approach (16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing) and GC-MS/MS to identify its occurrence and its accumulated lipids and thus, their potential use for biodiesel production.