Odorous gases from microbial activities near coastal drainage outfalls are a source of odor complaints. A 12-month surveillance study identified key odorous gases in the surrounding air, while laboratory investigations unveiled the microbial community at the site. Detailed volatilome and microbiome profiles were obtained from water samples. Gases were generated at 13.38 ppb h-1 during 30 h aerobic culture. The most common gases are aromatics (72.1%), aldehyde and carboxylic acid (9.9%), and terpenes (6.7%). Under anaerobic conditions, 3.85 ppb h-1 VOCs were generated, with aromatics (50.0%), alkane (22.1%) and terpenes (21.2%) being abundant. Indeed, toluene (64.8%) and nonanal (6.0%) ranked highest under aerobic conditions, while styrene (46.4%) and D-Limonene (16.4%) were common in anaerobic conditions. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, and Actinobacteria were identified in the sample, with proteobacteria dominating (88 to 95%) both aerobic and anaerobic cultures. The odorous VOC emissions were highly related to the microbial structure. The VOCs p-xylene, dodecane, pyrazine, 2,5-dimethyl-, nonanal as the primary VOCs under aerobic condition, can be positively correlated to Prevotella, Sulfurimonas, Sulfurospirillum, HQ225276_g, Tolumonas, Pseudaeromonas, Cloacibacterium, Bacteroidaceae_uc, Rheinheimera, Aeromonas, Blautia, Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, Shewanella, Enterobacterales_g, Megamonas, Vibrio. As the primary VOCs under anaerobic conditions, dodecane showed significant positive correlations with AM402959_g, Litoribrevibacter, and Thalassotalea. Thus, it is possible to identify direct VOC emissions from drainage and estuarine bacterial communities enabling more effective actions to be taken to control the odor problems.

Volatilome and microbiome of coastal drainage outfall

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