MiDAS Sweden: The microbial database for Swedish wastewater treatment plants and digesters

After more than 10 years of collaboration between Center for Microbial Communities (CMC) at Aalborg University (AAU) and more than 50 Danish wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), the MiDAS project (Microbial Database for Activated Sludge) is now being extended and established in Sweden in collaboration with consultants from AnoxKaldnes.

The overall aim of the MiDAS project is to learn about the microbial composition of engineered ecosystems of activated sludge plants, anaerobic digesters, and related wastewater treatment systems, and to characterize the important microorganisms present therein in order to get a better understanding of the process, ensure informed trouble-shooting and process optimization. The results will be integrated in the ongoing refinement of the “MiDAS Field Guide” (https://www.midasfieldguide.org/) that aims to summarize all the knowledge about the physiology and ecology of these important microorganisms, ultimately creating a universal guide to the field. Researchers from CMC maintain this field guide.

The Swedish wastewater treatment systems contains many unique process types (e.g. MBBRs) that are of key interest in the extension of the MiDAS project.