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bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.09.24.754035

Short-term BDD treatment of wastewater effluent reveals dissolved oxygen turnover and microbial community restructuring

Visser, A.-N.·Zulla, M.·Rosiwal, S.·Burkovski, A.
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Abstract

Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs) are increasingly investigated for tertiary wastewater treatment, yet their short-term effects on real wastewater effluent remain poorly constrained. This study investigated real wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent following short-term boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrochemical treatment using an interdigitated double-diamond electrode (iDDE), combined with hydrochemical, stable-isotope and shotgun metagenomic analyses. After 10 min at 7.0 V and 1.02 A, physicochemical parameters and bulk carbon pools remained largely unchanged. In contrast, d18O-DO decreased by 31.3 +/-0.28 permille alongside a small increase in dissolved oxygen (0.16 +/-0.03 mmol/L), indicating substantial oxygen consistent with electrochemical oxygen generation. Shotgun metagenomics revealed pronounced restructuring of the recovered microbial DNA pool, including increases in Comamonadaceae (~12.3% vs. ~25.1%) and Zoogloeaceae (~3.3% vs. ~8.4%), whereas the oxidative-stress-defence gene repertoire showed no coherent response. These taxonomic changes cannot be interpreted as selective survival, as metagenomics do not resolve viability or intra-/extracellular DNA contribution. Overall, short-term iDDE treatment affected the microbial component of real WWTP effluent despite comparatively limited changes in bulk chemistry, highlighting that EAOP effects extend beyond conventional disinfection.

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Visser, A.-N., Zulla, M., Rosiwal, S., Burkovski, A.. 2026-09-24. Short-term BDD treatment of wastewater effluent reveals dissolved oxygen turnover and microbial community restructuring. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.24.754035

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