Abstract
Musty odor problem, caused by the secondary metabolites of algae responsible for eutrophication, has been a serious issue all over the world as the musty odor compounds are recalcitrant. Geosmin, a typical musty odor compound, is produced by cyanobacteria and actinomyces. Geosmin is difficult to remove using traditional water treatment processes like coagulation and sedimentation, and is costly to remove using activated carbon. In contrast, the biological removal of geosmin has been proved to be an effective and cost-friendly approach, but aspects on the biodegradation of geosmin still remain to be fully elucidated. In this research, putative geosmin-degradading biofilm were monthly sampled from a practical biological water treatment plant and geosmin degradation rate were checked under in situ and 25℃ water temperature incubation. We found that the geomin-degrading microbes existed in the biofilm throughout the year, and the geosmin degradation rate ranged from close to 0 in January to 0.42 d－1mg－1cm2 in August, indicating that geosmin degradation rates were greatly affected by water temperature. Moreover, although the geosmin degradation rate was inhibited at lower temperatures, it can be recovered at appropriate water temperature.
