Thiosulphate conversion in a methane and acetate fed membrane bioreactor

Abstract

The use of methane and acetate as electron donors for biological reduction of thiosulphate in a 5-L laboratory membrane bioreactor was studied and compared to disproportionation of thiosulphate as competing biological reaction. The reactor was operated for 454 days in semi-batch mode; 30 % of its liquid phase was removed and periodically replenished (days 77, 119, 166, 258, 312 and 385). Although the reactor was operated under conditions favourable to promote thiosulphate reduction coupled to methane oxidation, thiosulphate disproportionation was the dominant microbial process. Pyrosequencing analysis showed that the most abundant microorganisms in the bioreactor were phototrophic green sulphur bacteria (GSB) belonging to the family Chlorobiaceae and thiosulphate-disproportionating bacteria belonging to the genus Desulfocapsa. Even though the reactor system was surrounded with opaque plastic capable of filtering most of the light, the GSB used it to oxidize the hydrogen sulphide produced from thiosulphate disproportionation to elemental sulphur. Interrupting methane and acetate supply did not have any effect on the microbial processes taking place. The ultimate goal of our research was to develop a process that could be applied for thiosulphate and sulphate removal and biogenic sulphide formation for metal precipitation. Even though the system achieved in this study did not accomplish the targeted conversion using methane as electron donor, it does perform microbial conversions which allow to directly obtain elemental sulphur from thiosulphate.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11356-015-5344-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Anaerobic treatment and resource recovery from methanol rich waste gases and wastewaters

“…Disproportionation of S2O3 2to SO4 2and H2S has been reported in previous studies Suarez-Zuluaga et al, 2016). In this study, a maximum of 150 mg/L SO4 2was observed after 0.5 to 1 d of S2O3 2addition, clearly indicating the occurrence of microbial disproportionation in the BTF.…”

Pressure sensitivity of ANME-3 predominant anaerobic methane oxidizing community from coastal marine Lake Grevelingen sediment

“…The ANME-3 cells present in the marine Lake Grevelingen possess high specific AOM-SR rates and thus, can be of great potential to be applied in the industry after enrichment. The SR rate with CH 4 as electron donor should be around 100 mmol g VSS -1 d -1 to be competitive with the SR rates achieved with other electron donors, such as hydrogen or ethanol (31, 33), which is still much higher than what was obtained in this study.…”

Pressure Selects Dominant Anaerobic Methanotrophic Phylotype and Sulfate Reducing Bacteria in Coastal Marine Lake Grevelingen Sediment

“…Marine Lake Grevelingen sediment is easily accessible and the ANME-3 cells present possess high specific AOM-SR rates, thus, the use of this sediment as inoculum can be of great potential for the desulfurization of wastewater. However, the SR rate with CH 4 as electron donor should be around 100 mmol gvss −1 d −1 to be competitive with the SR rates achieved with other electron donors, such as hydrogen or ethanol (Meulepas et al, 2009a;Suarez-Zuluaga et al, 2016), which is still much higher than what was obtained in this study. Thus, further enrichment and research is required for potential biotechnological applications of ANME.…”