Anaerobic Bacteria Capable of the Fermentation of Sulfite Waste Liquor

Abstract

Sulfite waste liquor (s.w.l.) results from the manufacture of cellulose pulp by the acid-sulfite process. It contains about 11 per cent of material, in solution, which consists of soluble ligninsulfonic salts of calcium (60 to 70 per cent), hexose sugars (12 to 20 per cent), pentosans and pentoses (4 to 5 per cent), their various oxidation products, acetic and formic acids (0.5 to 1.0 per cent), and traces of other organic substances. When discharged into small natural waterways it frequently causes serious trouble, due primarily to its high biochemical oxygen demand and to the carbon dioxide evolved in fermentation of its sugars, which stimulates a prolific growth of algae. The anaerobic fermentation of s.w.l. by bacteria of the seabottom mud (mixed cultures) studied by Benson and Partansky (1934), and by bacteria of river muds, studied by Partansky (unpublished data), shows that in the course of two to three months at 36°C. practically all organic matter of s.w.l. except lignin is converted into gases, and that the residue is a biochemically stable liquid. If the fermentation were to proceed throughout at the maximum rates attained in these mixed cultures, it would be complete in three to four weeks. It was concluded, therefore, that by using selected cultures and maintaining optimum conditions it should be possible to reduce the fermentation time to a matter of days, in which case it would be commercially possible to stabilize the s.w.l. before its discharge into the waterways, thus avoiding the pollution. It has been shown by us (1935) that various species of bacteria attack s.w.l. to only a 559

CLOSTRIDIUM PASTEURIANUM ASSOCIATED WITH SPOILAGE OF AN ACID CANNED FRUIT 1

“…A tryptone (.5 per cent) dextrose (.5 per cent) broth with reduced iron and sodium sulfite (.25 per cent) turned nearly black as did lead acetate papers suspended in the tubes. A test to determine the tolerance of sulfite was suggested by the paper of Partansky and Henry (1935 .... Corn Mash: Corn mash cultures with and without liver, McClung and McCoy (1934), showed only traces of gas and no liquefaction of the medium, corresponding to Group la, C1. pastezLrianum type of McCoy, et al (1930).…”

Clostridium folliculivorans sp. nov., isolated from soil samples of an organic paddy in Japan

“…Soil is one of the greatest reservoirs of bacterial abundance and biodiversity [6]. To the best of our knowledge, at least 18 novel species of the genus Clostridium have been proposed with the type strains isolated from various soils (C. arbusti [7], C. argentinense [8], C. chromiireducens [9], C. combesii [10], C. cylindrosporum [11], C. fungisolvens [12], C. gelidum [13], C. kogasense [14], C. nitritogenes [10], C. nitrophenolicum [15], C. manihotivorum [16], C. oryzae [17], C. phytofermentans [18], C. polyendosporum [5], C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum [19], C. sartagoforme [20], C. sporogenes [21] and C. thailandense [22]), suggesting that soil is one of the major sites for isolating the genus Clostridium. It has been reported that Clostridia have been isolated at particularly high prevalence and abundance in flooded paddy soils [23][24][25].…”