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DRP Accelerator vs Aster Bio: the Alternative That Adds No New Bacteria

DRP Accelerator is the stronger choice for a system that already has the right bacteria and is simply short of oxygen: it adds no organisms of its own, only the usable oxygen that lets the bacteria already living in the wastewater stop drawing it from sulfate. Aster Bio, as its website describes it (September 2026), takes the opposite approach, selling named bioaugmentation products built around specific microbial strains and pairing them with an in-house Environmental Genomics lab service to identify what a system is missing; doing that well means a lab evaluating what bacteria are already present, and that analysis is costly and has to repeat as a regular part of the program, so what is often seen is that it works at first and then the added culture dies off or has little or no effect once the lab work stops happening. We only add oxygen, think of it as supercharging the bacteria already there, and it works continuously. A plant already running an Aster Bio product does not have to remove it to add DRP Accelerator upstream: we set a baseline against current readings and measure from there before anything about the existing setup changes.

Aster Bio sells named microbial strains and lab diagnostics. DRP Accelerator feeds the bacteria already on site.

Aster Bio sells named bioaugmentation products such as AB Nitrozyme for nitrification and AB Petrozyme for hydrocarbon degradation, as its website describes them.
Aster Bio pairs its bioaugmentation products with an in-house molecular testing service it calls Environmental Genomics, as its website describes it.
Bioaugmentation is the practice of adding bacterial, enzyme, or other microbial cultures to a wastewater system to introduce organisms not already present.
Biostimulation is the practice of changing conditions for the bacteria already present in a system instead of adding a population that must establish itself.
Hydrogen sulfide forms when bacteria draw oxygen from sulfate after the dissolved oxygen already in the wastewater has been used up.
DRP Accelerator is an inorganic compound that carries usable oxygen to bacteria already living in the wastewater rather than introducing new organisms.

Published September 24, 2026 · Updated September 26, 2026

Two starting points

As its website describes it (September 2026), Aster Bio sells a line of named bioaugmentation products built around specific microbial strains, organized by function: AB Nitrozyme for restoring nitrification, AB S10 for hydrogen sulfide and odor control, AB Petrozyme for hydrocarbon-degrading work, AB Munizyme for municipal collection systems, and AB20 for CAFO manure and liquid waste. Some products, such as AB Munizyme LS, add enzymes and biodegradable surfactants alongside the bacteria, so the strain itself is not always the whole formulation. Aster Bio pairs that catalog with an in-house lab service it calls Environmental Genomics: microbial community analysis by DNA sequencing, quantitative PCR to track specific populations over time, and microscopic examination of activated sludge, used to identify what is missing from a system and confirm whether a treatment change worked. That is a company built around diagnosing a gap in the biomass and filling it with a product matched to that gap.

DRP Accelerator starts from a different point of intervention. It is an inorganic compound that carries usable oxygen to the bacteria already living in the wastewater, and we add no bacteria and no enzymes of our own. With that oxygen available, the bacteria stop drawing it from sulfate, so the sulfide that becomes hydrogen sulfide is never formed, and the same aerobic bacteria go on to digest fats, oils, grease and organic sludge that an oxygen-starved system otherwise leaves untouched. Nothing is diagnosed and matched to a strain; the same product answers whatever aerobic population is already present, wherever the water runs short of oxygen.

Four things decide which approach fits a system: what each one adds to the water, when it acts relative to the moment hydrogen sulfide forms, what stays behind once it has worked, and what it costs to run in capital and handling terms.

At a glance

The table below lines up the same eight questions worth asking of any wastewater biology option, DRP Accelerator and Aster Bio side by side, with DRP Accelerator listed first because that is the answer we are recommending.

Factor	DRP Accelerator	Aster Bio
What is added	Usable oxygen for the bacteria already present; no bacteria, no enzymes added	Named microbial cultures, and in some products enzymes or surfactants, as its website describes them
When it acts	Before the sulfide pathway starts, continuously	After the added cultures establish in the system
What stays downstream	Nothing; consumed as the bacteria use the oxygen	Cultures introduced to establish a working population
Where it reaches	As far upstream as water and power allow, into anaerobic zones aeration never reaches	The point where the product is dosed, by pump or by hand
FOG and sludge	Digested by the same aerobic bacteria that stop H2S from forming	Addressed by a separate named product line, apart from its nitrification and H2S lines
Capital and handling	No capital purchase; a monthly service we run and measure	Packaged product ordered as drums, totes, dry powder or liquid; pump-metered or hand-dosed
How it is measured	A baseline and follow-up readings as part of the monthly service	An in-house Environmental Genomics lab: DNA sequencing, quantitative PCR and microscopic exam
Markets it names	Municipal lift stations and treatment plants, agricultural and animal waste lagoons, and industrial pretreatment	Municipal collection systems and CAFO manure and liquid waste, among its named product lines

Aster Bio details come from its own website only, checked September 2026, and may change. Confirm with each company.

That table is most of the decision. If it already reads your way, contact us and we will show you the program on your own system.

Where DRP Accelerator is the stronger choice

Prevention, not a diagnosis after the fact. Hydrogen sulfide is never formed once the bacteria already in the wastewater have usable oxygen to draw on, instead of running a lab test to identify a missing population, matching it to a named product, and waiting for that product to establish before the smell and the corrosion let up.
Added bacteria come with a maintenance program of their own. To add bacteria properly, a lab has to evaluate what bacteria are already present, and that analysis is costly and has to be repeated as a regular part of the program; what is often seen is that it works at first, the lab work rarely happens, and the added culture dies off or has little or no effect. We only add oxygen, think of it as supercharging your bacteria, and it works continuously. Our bacteria growth test measured that difference directly.
Nothing added that stays behind. DRP Accelerator is consumed as the bacteria use its oxygen, so no cultures, enzymes or surfactants are left in the system once the job is done, and there is nothing left to track with a follow-up microbial community analysis.
FOG and organic sludge digested by the bacteria already there. The same oxygen that keeps sulfide from forming also feeds the aerobic bacteria that break down fats, oils, grease and settled solids, without a separate named product built for that one problem.
Upstream reach a packaged product cannot match. We dose as far upstream as water and power allow, into anaerobic zones a product dosed at one point by pump or by hand never reaches, so the whole collection system benefits rather than only the point where a drum or tote happens to be connected.
No capital purchase. DRP Accelerator runs as a monthly service we run and measure, with documented before-and-after readings from systems that made the switch, rather than a catalog of products and a separate lab bill each time a new gap is suspected.
Works in anaerobic and aerobic water alike. The same oxygen that stops hydrogen sulfide from forming in an anaerobic force main also supports the aerobic bacteria doing the rest of the digestion work, one program instead of a separate named product for nitrification, one for odor, and another for hydrocarbons.

Where Aster Bio has the edge

A missing population, reintroduced directly. When the bacteria capable of restoring nitrification after a toxic upset, or breaking down a hydrocarbon or phenolic compound the native population does not carry, are simply not present, Aster Bio’s named strains put them there directly; adding oxygen alone cannot recreate an organism that never established itself in the first place.
Diagnostics built into the relationship. Aster Bio’s Environmental Genomics lab, DNA sequencing, quantitative PCR and microscopic exam of activated sludge, pairs directly with its products, giving an operator one supplier for identifying what is missing, supplying it, and tracking whether the added population actually established over time.
One catalog for several separate problems. AB Nitrozyme, AB S10, AB Petrozyme, AB Munizyme and AB20 cover nitrification, odor and H2S, hydrocarbons, municipal collection systems and CAFO waste as named, separate products from one supplier, which suits an operator who would rather order a matched product for each new problem than run one program across all of them.

Where DRP Accelerator pulls ahead is the system that already has the right bacteria and is only short of oxygen: no diagnosis needed to find out, and no separate product to match to the result, because the same oxygen we add works for whatever aerobic population is already there.

Already running Aster Bio? Add DRP Accelerator upstream

Nothing has to come out first. We dose DRP Accelerator upstream of whatever Aster Bio product is already running, set a baseline against current readings, and measure from there before anything about the existing setup changes. With usable oxygen available further upstream, the bacteria already in the system have less reason to fall into the shortage a named product is being added to correct, so that product typically has less work to do, and an Environmental Genomics reading taken later can show whether that shift actually happened. Many sites reduce or retire an added product once the readings hold against the baseline; some keep it in reserve for a specific pollutant class rather than removing it entirely, and that decision stays with the utility, not with us. Gas monitors and confined space entry procedures stay in place either way; nothing about adding an upstream oxygen program changes what has to be true for anyone entering a wet well or a force main manhole.

How to decide

Find where the oxygen runs out. Walk the system from where waste enters to where it leaves, and mark where dissolved oxygen disappears: a force main, a wet well, a lagoon bottom. That is where hydrogen sulfide is being made, and it is the point any real comparison has to start from.
Ask what each product adds, and what stays behind. Aster Bio’s named products add microbial cultures, and in some formulations enzymes or surfactants, meant to establish a population that becomes part of the biomass going forward. DRP Accelerator adds none of those; it is consumed as the bacteria use its oxygen, leaving nothing of the product itself behind once the oxygen has been used. For the general case against packaged bacteria additives, see our comparison of bacteria additives.
Ask what happens to FOG and sludge. Aster Bio’s own site lists fats, oils and grease reduction as a separate product line from its nitrification and hydrogen sulfide lines; ask whether that is already included in what is ordered or whether it takes a second product and a second dosing point. The same aerobic bacteria that keep hydrogen sulfide from forming under DRP Accelerator go on to digest fats, oils, grease and organic sludge without a separate line.
Ask what it costs in capital and handling, and how the result is measured. Compare ordering, storing and dosing a packaged product, plus the cost of a diagnostic lab test to confirm it worked, against a monthly service with no capital purchase, and ask how each vendor proposes to show the result, in writing, over time.

Ask both vendors for the same page

Ask Aster Bio and ask us for the same thing: what is actually missing from the system, what stays behind once a product has worked, and how the result gets measured over time. A lab test such as Environmental Genomics can answer the first question well, and it is worth asking for on its own terms. We will show you the second and third on your own system: the dosing point we would use, the baseline we would set, and the readings we would bring back to you as the program runs. Contact us and we will walk through it together, on your data, not a sales sheet. We say all of this in public because it holds up in public.

A note on this comparison

This comparison was written by us. Every statement about Aster Bio above comes from its own website as of September 2026 and may have changed since; confirm current details with Aster Bio before making a decision about its products or its Environmental Genomics service. We are not affiliated with, and are not endorsed by, Aster Bio. Aster Bio’s name and its product names, including AB Nitrozyme, AB S10, AB Petrozyme, AB Munizyme, AB20 and Environmental Genomics, belong to their owner, not to us.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Straight answers.

Is DRP Accelerator a good alternative to Aster Bio?+

Yes. DRP Accelerator is an inorganic compound that carries usable oxygen to the bacteria already living in the wastewater, so those bacteria stop drawing oxygen from sulfate and the sulfide that becomes hydrogen sulfide is never formed, and the same aerobic bacteria go on to digest fats, oils, grease and organic sludge. Aster Bio, as its website describes it, sells named bioaugmentation products built around specific microbial strains, paired with an in-house Environmental Genomics lab service, and it is the better fit only when a specific population or pollutant-degrading capability is actually missing from a system, not simply short of oxygen. DRP Accelerator is consumed as the bacteria use its oxygen, leaving no cultures, enzymes or chemical additives behind, and it runs as a monthly service with no capital purchase. It can also be dosed upstream of an Aster Bio product already in place, without removing anything first.

What is the main difference between DRP Accelerator and Aster Bio?+

Aster Bio's products add named microbial cultures, and in some formulations enzymes or surfactants, meant to establish a population in the system. DRP Accelerator adds none of those; it is an inorganic compound that carries usable oxygen to the bacteria already living in the wastewater, and that oxygen is consumed as those bacteria use it rather than remaining behind as an added culture. Establishing an added population properly also means a lab evaluating what bacteria are already present, an analysis that is costly and has to repeat as a regular part of the program, and what is often seen is that the added culture works at first and then dies off or has little or no effect once that lab work stops happening; we only add oxygen, and it works continuously.

Where does Aster Bio fall short?+

Aster Bio's named products are built to reintroduce a specific missing population or break down a specific pollutant class; where the bacteria a system needs are already present and simply short of oxygen, the way most collection systems and lagoon bottoms are, adding more organisms into that same shortage does not change the condition that caused the problem. Doing that addition properly also calls for a lab to evaluate what bacteria are already present, an analysis that is costly and has to repeat as a regular part of the program, and what is often seen is that the added culture works at first and then dies off or has little or no effect once the lab work stops happening. Aster Bio's own materials do not describe an approach for a system that already carries the right bacteria and only needs more oxygen to use them.

Do we have to stop using Aster Bio to start DRP Accelerator?+

No. We dose DRP Accelerator upstream of whatever Aster Bio product is already running, without removing or shutting anything down first, and set a baseline against current readings before making any change to what is already in place.

Can the two run at the same time?+

Yes. DRP Accelerator dosed upstream and an Aster Bio product dosed at its existing point can run together; with usable oxygen available further upstream, the added product typically has less to correct, and the two can be adjusted against each other as the readings come in.

What happens to Aster Bio once DRP Accelerator is running?+

An added product typically has less to do once oxygen is available further upstream, and many sites reduce or retire it once the readings hold against the baseline we set. Some sites keep a smaller amount in reserve for a specific pollutant class rather than removing it entirely; either way, the decision is measured against readings, not assumed.

Is Waste Water Innovations affiliated with Aster Bio?+

No. We are not affiliated with, and are not endorsed by, Aster Bio. Everything on this page about Aster Bio comes from its own website as of September 2026 and may have changed since; confirm current details directly with Aster Bio.

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