The organics and nutrients in industrial and domestic wastewater are increasingly being
regarded as a valuable resource for energy and nutrient recovery. Emerging concepts to
redesign wastewater treatment as resource recovery systems include the use of different
bacteria and algae to partition carbon and nutrients to the particulate phase through
assimilation or bio-accumulation. This study evaluates the use of purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) (also known as purple non-sulphur bacteria or PNSB) for such a biological concentration process through a series of batch tests.The key objectives are to (a) demonstrateconsistent selection and enrichment of PPB using infrared light in a non-sterile medium, and(b) achieve effective partitioning of soluble organics, ammonium and phosphate into the PPBculture. PPB were successfully enriched from pre-settled domestic wastewater within 2e3days and identified as members of the order Rhodobacterales