Dehydration of beads after ammonium is removed
After allthe ammoniumis eliminated, beads were removed from
each bioreactor, wastewater was discarded, and the beads were
thoroughly washed three times in sterile saline solution (0.85%
NaCl) and placed on sterile aluminum trays. No further analysis
for potential leftover salts in the beads was done. Beads were dried
either by incubation in an oven at 40–43 ◦C for 24 h (A. brasilense
tolerates these temperatures) or in a laminar flow hood at 28–30 ◦C
for 48 h. Once dried, each sample was placed in dry, hermeticallysealed
glass containers at room temperature (23–28 ◦C) until used
or analyzed.