Bacteriophages in Wastewater Treatment: Can They Be an Approach to Optimize the Anammox-based Processes?

Abstract In this paper, we explore the applications of bacteriophages and the advantages of using these viruses to elucidate the possibility of applying them to control substrate competition organisms in anammox-based processes. The partial nitrification/anammox offers economic and structural advantages compared to conventional nitrogen removal processes. However, the appearance of substrate competing bacteria is typical, as is the case of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), which tend to grow unrestrainedly in the system, converting all ammonia to nitrate, globally impacting the system once substrate availability is compromised. Thus, control measures to prevent this substrate competition are vital for process efficiency. We used a literature review depicting the main applications of bacteriophages in wastewater treatment plants. Initial studies demonstrated bacteriophages have great potential to be applied in anammox-based processes, such as partial nitrification/anammox (PN/A) acting to combat NOB, a valuable economic and environmental tool to improve the efficiency of nitrogen removal processes. Although these viruses have already been studied in various applications to optimize treatment plant processes, technology transfer remains a challenge due to the limitations of the technique and the complexity of biological systems. The research development focused on application strategies in conjunction with molecular biology techniques can expand this study area, enabling the discovery of bacteria and bacteriophages.