Biological sulphate reduction using food industry wastes as carbon sources

Abstract

Biological treatment with dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria has been considered the most promising alternative for decontamination of sulphate rich effluents. These wastewaters are usually deficient in electron donors and require their external addition to achieve complete sulphate reduction. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility of using food industry wastes (a waste from the wine industry and cheese whey) as carbon sources for dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria. The results show that these wastes can be efficiently used by these bacteria provided that calcite tailing is present as a neutralizing and buffer material. A 95 and 50 % sulphate reduction was achieved within 20 days of experiment by a consortium of dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria grown on media containing waste from the wine industry or cheese whey respectively. Identification of the dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria community using the dsr gene revealed the presence of the species Desulfovibrio fructosovorans, Desulfovibrio aminophilus and Desulfovibrio desulfuricans. The findings of the present study emphasise the potential of using wastes from the wine industry as carbon source for dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria, combined with calcite tailing, in the development of cost effective and environmentally friendly bioremediation processes.

Application of sugarcane bagasse for passive anaerobic biotreatment of sulphate rich wastewaters

“…1). Martins et al (2009) have reported similar pattern of sulphate reduction during the assessment of food industry wastes as carbon sources in biological sulphate reduction processes. In spite of efficient sulphate reduction performances in the first halves, all the isolates showed extended lag phases showing negligible growth in the initial 10 days of anaerobic incubation periods (Fig.…”

“…Prevalence and dominance of Desulfovibrio genus in sulphate rich and anaerobic environments is best studied (Dar et al 2005;Martins et al 2009). Following the BLAST results the bacteria were identified as Desulfovibrio fructosovorans and Desulfovibrio piger.…”

“…In the initial screening based on sulphate reduction, the isolates which appeared a little bit different in terms of prodigious growth and better sulphate reduction performances were selected for genotypic characterization. For characterization of bacterial isolates at the molecular level, total genomic DNA was extracted from freshly grown cells of the selected bacterial isolates in Postgate B medium after Martins et al (2009). Universal primers 27f (5 0 -AGAGTTTGATCMTGGCTCAG-3 0 ) and 1492r (5 0 -GGTTACCTTGTTACGACTT-3 0 ) were used to amplify 16S rRNA gene.…”

“…Several bioremediation processes including decontamination of acid mine drainage and sulphate rich waste waters using sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) have been practiced much in the last decade (Johnson and Hallberg 2005;Neculita et al 2007;Martins et al 2009;Hussain and Qazi 2012). SRB collectively make a group of obligatory anaerobes exhibiting diverse morphological as well as physiological characteristics and occupy a wide range of habitats among terrestrial, sub-terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (Willis et al 1997).…”

“…Both dissimilatory autotrophs and heterotrophs use sulphate (SO 4 2-) as terminal electron acceptor. The former metabolize CO 2 and the latter utilize multifarious energy-rich organic compounds as carbon sources/ electron donors while generating sulfide (Pfennig et al 1981; Lens and Kuennen 2001;Rabus et al 2006;Martins et al 2009). In various bioremediation processes based on the use of dissimilatory SRB, this biogenic sulfide reacts vigorously with dissolved metals present in the wastewaters forming insoluble precipitates of metal sulfides thus reducing the concentrations of metals and sulphates simultaneously (Costa and Duarte 2005;Vega-López et al 2007;Martins et al 2009).…”