Enhancing denitrifying sulfide removal with functional strains under micro-aerobic condition

A comprehensive review of flue gas bio-mitigation: chemolithotrophic interactions with flue gas in bio-reactors as a sustainable possibility for technological advancements

Flue gas mitigation technologies aim to reduce the environmental impact of flue gas emissions, particularly from industrial processes and power plants. One approach to mitigate flue gas emissions involves bio-mitigation, which utilizes microorganisms to convert harmful gases into less harmful or inert substances. The review thus explores the bio-mitigation efficiency of chemolithotrophic interactions with flue gas and their potential application in bio-reactors. Chemolithotrophs are microorganisms that can derive energy from inorganic compounds, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and sulfur dioxide (SO2), present in the flue gas. These microorganisms utilize specialized enzymatic pathways to oxidize these compounds and produce energy. By harnessing the metabolic capabilities of chemolithotrophs, flue gas emissions can be transformed into value-added products. Bio-reactors provide controlled environments for the growth and activity of chemolithotrophic microorganisms. Depending on the specific application, these can be designed as suspended or immobilized reactor systems. The choice of bio-reactor configuration depends on process efficiency, scalability, and ease of operation. Factors influencing the bio-mitigation efficiency of chemolithotrophic interactions include the concentration and composition of the flue gas, operating conditions (such as temperature, pH, and nutrient availability), and reactor design. Chemolithotrophic interactions with flue gas in bio-reactors offer a potentially efficient approach to mitigating flue gas emissions. Continued research and development in this field are necessary to optimize reactor design, microbial consortia, and operating conditions. Advances in understanding the metabolism and physiology of chemolithotrophic microorganisms will contribute to developing robust and scalable bio-mitigation technologies for flue gas emissions.

Bacterial remediation of pesticide polluted soils: Exploring the feasibility of site restoration

For decades, reclamation of pesticide contaminated sites has been a challenging avenue. Due to increasing agricultural demand, the application of synthetic pesticides could not be controlled in its usage, and it has now adversely impacted the soil, water, and associated ecosystems posing adverse effects on human health. Agricultural soil and pesticide manufacturing sites, in particular, are one of the most contaminated due to direct exposure. Among various strategies for soil reclamation, ecofriendly microbial bioremediation suffers inherent challenges for large scale field application as interaction of microbes with the polluted soil varies greatly under climatic conditions. Methodically, starting from functional or genomic screening, enrichment isolation; functional pathway mapping, production of tensioactive metabolites for increasing the bioavailability and bio-accessibility, employing genetic engineering strategies for modifications in existing catabolic genes to enhance the degradation activity; each step-in degradation study has challenges and prospects which can be addressed for successful application. The present review critically examines the methodical challenges addressing the feasibility for restoring and reclaiming pesticide contaminated sites along with the ecotoxicological risk assessments. Overall, it highlights the need to fine-tune the available processes and employ interdisciplinary approaches to make microbe assisted bioremediation as the method of choice for reclamation of pesticide contaminated sites.

Application of activated sludge for odor control in wastewater treatment plants: Approaches, advances and outlooks

Odors from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have attracted extensive attention and stringent environmental standards are more widely adopted to reduce odor emissions. Biological odor treatment methods have broader applications than the physical and chemical counterparts as they are environment-friendly, cost-effective and generate low secondary wastes. The aqueous activated sludge (AS) processes are among the most promising approaches for the prevention or end-of-pipe removal of odor emissions and have the potential to simultaneously treat odor and wastewater. However, AS deodorization biotechnologies in WWTPs still need to be further systematically summarized and categorized while in-depth discussions on the characteristics and underlying mechanisms of AS deodorization process are still lacking. Recently, considerable studies have been reported to elucidate the microbial metabolisms in odor control and wastewater treatment. This paper reviews the fundamentals, characteristics, advances and field experiences of three AS biotechnologies for odor treatment in WWTPs, i.e., AS recycling, microaeration in AS digester and AS diffusion. The underlying deodorization mechanisms of typical odors have been revealed through the summary of recent advances on multi-element conversions, metabolic interactions of bacteria, microscopic characterization and identification of functional microorganisms. Future research aspects to advance the emerging deodorization AS process, such as deodorization mechanisms, simultaneous odor and water treatment, synergistic treatment with other air emissions, are discussed.

The stimulating metabolic mechanisms response to sulfide and oxygen in typical heterotrophic sulfide-oxidizing nitrate-reducing bacteria Pseudomonas C27

Micro-aeration is an effective tool that helps integrated autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrification process to withstand high sulfide concentration by making heterotrophic sulfide-oxidizing nitrate-reducing bacteria (h-soNRB) prevail. For further understanding of the dominance of h-soNRB, Pseudomonas C27 was selected as the typical bacterium and its metabolic characteristics responding to sulfide and oxygen stimulation were studied. Under high sulfide concentration condition, addition of trace oxygen led to a two-stage sulfide oxidation process, and sulfide oxidation rate in the first stage was 1.4 times more than that under anaerobic condition. According to transcriptome analysis, the pdo gene significantly up-regulated 2.36 and 2.57 times with and without oxygen under stimulation of high sulfide concentration. Additionally, two possible enhanced sulfide removal pathways coping with high sulfide concentration, namely sqr-cysI-gpx-gor-glpE and cysK-gshA-gshB-pdo-glpE, caused by oxygen were proposed in Pseudomonas C27. These findings provide a theoretical basis for locating high-efficiency sulfur oxidase in h-soNRB.

Denitrification with non-organic electron donor for treating low C/N ratio wastewaters

Denitrification with non-organic electron donors for treating low C/N ratio wastewater has attracted growing interests. Hydrogen, reduced sulfur compounds and ferrous ions are mainly used in autotrophic denitrification, holding promise for achieving practical applications. Recently, the development of autotrophic denitrification-based processes, such as bioelectrochemically-supported hydrogenotrophic denitrification and sulfur-/iron-based denitrification assisted multi-contaminant removal, provide opportunities for applying these processes in wastewater treatment. Exploration of the autotrophic denitrification process in terms of contaminant removal mechanism, interaction among functional microorganisms, and potential full-scale applications is thus of great importance. Here, an overview of the commonly used non-organic electron donors, e.g., hydrogen, reduced sulfur compounds and ferrous ions, in denitrification for treating low C/N ratio wastewater is provided. Also, the feasibility of applying the combined processes based on autotrophic denitrification with the compounds is discussed. Furthermore, challenges and future possibilities as well as concerns about the practical applications are envisaged in this review.

Bioreactor performance and microbial community analysis of autotrophic denitrification under micro-aerobic condition

Autotrophic denitrification process is an effective strategy for treating sulfide and nitrate-enriched wastewater with low organic carbon. This study determined the sulfide oxidation and nitrate reduction rates and characterized the dominant bacteria and microbial community structure stimulated by micro-aerobic conditions in autotrophic denitrification system. With gradually increased sulfide concentration, the sulfide removal rate decreased to 37.8% at S^2- = 600 mg/L, while the peak sulfide and nitrate removal rates (100% and 53.8%) were achieved at S^2- = 800 mg/L with the air aeration rate of 20 mL/min. The Illumina sequencing results indicated that Thiobacillus accounted for 63% of total operational taxonomic units at generic level with sulfide concentration of 200 mg/L under anaerobic condition. However, Azoarcus, Thauera and Aliidiomorina became the dominant genera under micro-aerobic condition and their abundance significantly and positively related to the sulfide concentration and aeration rate (p < 0.05). According to the 16S metaproteomics functional composition prediction, one potential mechanism for autotrophic denitrifying under micro-aerobic condition was deduced that the oxidation of sulfide to thiosulfate further to sulfite was reinforced by trace oxygen, while the sulfite reductase activity was restrained. The decreased sulfide concentration weakened the toxicity inhibition on denitrifiers and accordingly the performance of autotrophic denitrification process was enhanced by micro-aerobic condition.

Response of the reactor performance and microbial community to a shift of ISDD process from micro-aerobic to anoxic condition

Micro-aerobic condition has proven to be effective in enhancing sulfide oxidation to elemental sulfur (S⁰) during integrated simultaneous desulfurization and denitrification process (ISDD). In this study we investigated and compared the performance and microbial community of ISDD process operating under initially anoxic, then micro-aerobic and finally switch back to anoxic condition. For all the three tested scenarios, comparable bioreactor performance in terms of sulfate (95.0 ± 4.4%, 90.6 ± 3.8%, 89.8 ± 3.5%) and nitrate (∼100%) removal was achieved. However, a shift of ISDD bioreactor from micro-aerobic to anoxic environment clearly increased the S⁰ production (30.6%), relative to that at initial anoxic condition (14.2%). Further anoxic bioreactor operation with different influent nitrate concentrations also obtained satisfactory performance particularly in terms of S⁰ production. Microbial community analysis results showed that functional microorganisms selectively enriched at micro-aerobic condition, particularly sulfide-oxidizing bacteria (SOB), could also function well and enhance S⁰ production when bioreactor switching from micro-aerobic to anoxic environment. We proposed that micro-aerobic strategy could function as a bio-selector and provide a new idea in functional microorganisms selectively enrichment for wastewater treatment.

Temporal variation of microbial population in a thermophilic biofilter for SO₂ removal

The performance of a biofilter relies on the activity of microorganisms during the gas contaminant treatment process. In this study, SO2 was treated using a laboratory-scale biofilter packed with polyurethane foam cubes (PUFC), on which thermophilic desulfurization bacteria were attached. The thermophilic biofilter effectively reduced SO2 within 10months of operation time, with a maximum elimination capacity of 48.29 g/m(3)/hr. Temporal shifts in the microbial population in the thermophilic biofilter were determined through polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence analysis. The substrate species and environmental conditions in the biofilter influenced the microbial population. Oxygen distribution in the PUFC was analyzed using a microelectrode. When the water-containing rate in PUFC was over 98%, the oxygen distribution presented aerobic-anoxic-aerobic states along the test route on the PUFC. The appearance of sulfate-reducing bacteria was caused by the anaerobic conditions and sulfate formation after 4months of operation.

Effect of dissolved oxygen on elemental sulfur generation in sulfide and nitrate removal process: characterization, pathway, and microbial community analysis

Microaerobic bioreactor treatment for enriched sulfide and nitrate has been demonstrated as an effective strategy to improve the efficiencies of elemental sulfur (S(0)) generation, sulfide oxidation, and nitrate reduction. However, there is little detailed information for the effect and mechanism of dissolved oxygen (DO) on the variations of microbial community in sulfur generation, sulfide oxidation, and nitrate reduction systems. Polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) was employed to evaluate the variations of microbial community structures in a sulfide oxidation and nitrate reduction reactor under different DO conditions (DO 0-0.7 mg · L(-1)). Experimental results revealed that the activity of sulfide-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) and nitrate-reducing bacteria (NRB) could be greatly stimulated in 0.1-0.3 mg-DO · L(-1). However, when the DO concentration was further elevated to more than 0.5 mg · L(-1), the abundance of NRB was markedly decreased, while the heterotrophic microorganisms, especially carbon degradation species, were enriched. The reaction pathways for sulfide and nitrate removal under microaerobic conditions were also deduced by combining batch experiments with functional species analysis. It was likely that the oxidation of sulfide to sulfur could be performed by both aerobic heterotrophic SOB and sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification bacteria with oxygen and nitrate as terminal electron acceptor, respectively. The nitrate could be reduced to nitrite by both autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrification, and then the generated nitrite could be completely converted to nitrogen gas via heterotrophic denitrification. This study provides new insights into the impacts of microaerobic conditions on the microbial community functional structures of sulfide-oxidizing, nitrate-reducing, and sulfur-producing bioreactors, which revealing the potential linkage between functional microbial communities and reactor performance.

Accessible mixotrophic growth of denitrifying sulfide removal consortium

Nitrate, sulfide and organic matters in wastewaters can be removed simultaneously by denitrifying sulfide removal (DSR) process. Complicated interactions between different microbial groups in the DSR medium render the process design and control difficult to implement. A consortium with DSR activity was grown mixotrophically at varying concentrations of nitrate, acetate or ammonium. The kinetic diagram previously proposed was adopted to quantitatively represent DSR performance with accessible regimes of the diagram being identified. Example on the use of the so-yielded accessible regime was provided.

Regeneration of elemental sulfur in a simultaneous sulfide and nitrate removal reactor under different dissolved oxygen conditions

A continuous reactor in microaerobic conditions was adopted for sulfide-oxidizing, nitrate-reducing and elemental sulfur (S(0)) regenerating, simultaneously. The results showed that appropriate dissolved oxygen (DO) enhanced S(0) regeneration efficiency, sulfide oxidation efficiency, and nitrate reduction efficiency. When the DO concentration was 0.1-0.3 mg L(-1), the microaerobic bioreactor simultaneously converted 8.16 kg-Sm(-3)d(-1) of sulfide to S(0) and 2.48 kg-Nm(-3)d(-1) of nitrate to nitrogen with the sulfide and nitrate removal efficiency of 100% and 90% respectively. Compared with anaerobic sulfide and nitrate removal process previously reported, the loading sulfide was higher and more S(0) was generated during the operation in microaerobic reactor. Analysis using the 16S rDNA gene clone library revealed that Azoarcus, Thauera, Paracoccus, Sulfurospirillum, Arcobacter and Clostridium were the dominant microorganisms in the sulfide and nitrate removal system.

Bioreactor performance and functional gene analysis of microbial community in a limited-oxygen fed bioreactor for co-reduction of sulfate and nitrate with high organic input

Limited-oxygen mediated synergistic relationships between sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), nitrate-reducing bacteria (NRB) and sulfide-oxidizing bacteria (SOB, including nitrate-reducing, sulfide-oxidizing bacteria NR-SOB) were predicted to simultaneously remove contaminants of nitrate, sulfate and high COD, and eliminate sulfide generation. A lab-scale experiment was conducted to examine the impact of limited oxygen on these oxy-anions degradation, sulfide oxidation and associated microbial functional responses. In all scenarios tested, the reduction of both nitrate and sulfate was almost complete. When limited-oxygen was fed into bioreactors, S(0) formation was significantly improved up to ∼ 70%. GeoChip 4.0, a functional gene microarray, was used to determine the microbial gene diversity and functional potential for nitrate and sulfate reduction, and sulfide oxidation. The diversity of the microbial community in bioreactors was increased with the feeding of limited oxygen. Whereas the intensities of the functional genes involved in sulfate reduction did not show a significant difference, the abundance of the detected denitrification genes decreased in limited oxygen samples. More importantly, sulfide-oxidizing bacteria may alter their populations/genes in response to limited oxygen potentially to function more effectively in sulfide oxidation, especially to elemental sulfur. The genes fccA/fccB from nitrate-reducing, sulfide-oxidizing bacteria (NR-SOB), such as Paracoccus denitrificans, Thiobacillus denitrificans, Beggiatoa sp., Thiomicrospira sp., and Thioalkalivibrio sp., were more abundant under limited-oxygen condition.

Proteomic analysis of sulfur-nitrogen-carbon removal by Pseudomonas sp. C27 under micro-aeration condition

Pseudomonas sp. C27 is a facultative autotrophic bacterium (FAB) that can effectively conduct mixotrophic and heterotrophic denitrifying sulfide removal (DSR) reactions under anaerobic condition using organic matters and sulfide as electron donors. Micro-aeration was proposed to enhance DSR reaction by FAB; however, there is no experimental proof on the effects of micro-aeration on capacity of denitrifying sulfide removal of FAB on proteomic levels. The proteome in total C27 cell extracts was observed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Differentially expressed protein spots and specifically expressed protein spots were identified by MALDI TOF/TOF MS. We identified 55 microaerobic-responsive protein spots, representing 55 unique proteins. Hierarchical clustering analysis revealed that 75% of the proteins were up-regulated, and 5% of the proteins were specifically expressed under micro-aerobic conditions. These enzymes were mainly involved in membrane transport, protein folding and metabolism. The noted expression changes of the microaerobic-responsive proteins suggests that C27 strain has a highly efficient enzyme system to conduct DSR reactions under micro-aerobic condition. Additionally, micro-aeration can increase the rates of protein synthesis and cell growth, and enhance cell defensive system of the strain.

Unconventional approaches to isolation and enrichment of functional microbial consortium--a review

Studies on how different functional strains interact in a microflora may include isolation of pure strains using conventional plating technique and then mix a few of the isolates before observing their growth in specific medium. As isolating pure strains that take part in the key function of industrial effluent purification via conventional method is impractical, convenient alternative approaches to screen essential microbial group that maintains desired function of a mixed population is desired. Such approaches can be employed to allow the selection and enrichment of so-called functional consortium with user-defined attributes for specific functions. This manuscript provides a review of various approaches to isolation and enrichment of microbial functional consortium in several biological processes. Consideration for the isolation and enrichment approaches and their applications are delineated. Challenges to the applications and further work are also outlined.

Simultaneous biological removal of nitrogen-sulfur-carbon: recent advances and challenges

Biological removal of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur is drawing increasing research interest in search for an efficient and cost-effective wastewater treatment. While extensive work on separate removal of nitrogen and sulfur is well documented, investigation on simultaneous denitrifying sulfide removal has only been reported recently. Most of the work on denitrifying sulfide removal has been focusing on bioreactor performance, loading and operating conditions. Nonetheless, underlying principles elucidating the biochemical reactions and the mechanisms of the microbial degradation are yet to be established. In addition, unstable denitrifying sulfide removal which is a major operating problem that hinders practical application of the process, is yet to be resolved. This paper provides a review on the state-of-the-art development of simultaneous biological removal of sulfur, nitrogen and carbon. Research on bioreactor operation and performance, reactor configurations, mechanisms and modeling work including the use of mass balance analysis and artificial neural networks is delineated. An in-depth discussion on the microbial community and functional consortium is also provided. Challenges and future work on simultaneous biological removal of nitrogen-sulfur-carbon are also outlined.

Enhanced elementary sulfur recovery in integrated sulfate-reducing, sulfur-producing rector under micro-aerobic condition

Biological treatment of sulfate-laden wastewater consists of two separate reactors to reduce sulfate to sulfide by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and to oxidize sulfide to sulfur (S(0)) by sulfide oxidation bacteria (SOB). To have SRB+SOB in a single reactor faced difficulty of low S(0) conversion. This study for the first time revealed that dissolved oxygen (DO) level can be used to manipulate SRB+SOB reactions in a single reactor. This work demonstrated successful operation of an integrated SRB+SOB reactor under micro-aerobic condition. At DO = 0.10-0.12 mg l(-1), since the activities of SOB were enhanced by limited oxygen, the removal efficiency for sulfate reached 81.5% and the recovery of S(0) peaked at 71.8%, higher than those reported in literature. At increased DO, chemical oxidation of sulfide with molecular oxygen competed with SOB so conversion of S(0) started to decline. At DO>0.30 mg l(-1) activities of SRB were inhibited, leading to failure of the SRB+SOB reactor.

Nitrification denitrification enhanced biological phosphorous removal (NDEBPR) occurs in a lab-scale alternating hypoxic/oxic membrane bioreactor

Strict anaerobic or anoxic maintenance of the system and process susceptibility to low organic loading are major concerns in nitrification denitrification enhanced biological phosphorous removal (NDEBPR). The study has initiated NDEBPR in a lab-scale alternating hypoxic/oxic membrane bioreactor by developing an enhanced mixed microbial culture capable of removing 97±2% COD, 99±0.84% NH(3)-N, 90±3% TN, and 96±1% TP-PO(4)(3-) with 20-day SRT. The viable cells ranging from 1.6×10(8) to 2.0×10(8)cells/ml estimated from the total bacterial genomic DNA (6.43-7.83 μg DNA/ml) represented only 5% of the MLVSS indicating low microbial biomass concentration. Reducing the organic load from 1250 to 750 mg COD/ml as glucose did not deteriorate the effluent quality (3.77±1.0 mg N-TN/l; 0.08±0.24 mg NH(3)-N/l; and 0.32±0.10 mg PO(4)(3-)-P/l). These observations are characteristics of activated sludge that harbors denitrifying polyphosphate accumulating organisms (DPAOs). The results showed that NDEBPR can be achieved under alternating hypoxic/oxic conditions.

Optimization of operating parameters for sludge process reduction under alternating aerobic/oxygen-limited conditions by response surface methodology

Batch tests were employed to estimate the optimal conditions for excess sludge reduction under an alternating aerobic/oxygen-limited environment using response surface methodology. Three key operating parameters, initial mixed liquor suspended solids (initial MLSS), HRT (hydraulic retention time) and reaction temperature (T), were selected, and their interrelationships studied by the Box-Behnken design. The experimental data and ANOVA analysis showed that the coefficient of determination (R(2)) was 0.9956 and the adjR(2) was 0.9912, which demonstrates that the modified model was significant. The optimum conditions were predicted to give a maximal ΔMLSS yield of 226 mg/L at an initial MLSS of 10,021 ± 50 mg/L, an HRT of 9.1h and a reaction temperature of 29°C. The prediction was tested by triplicate experiments, where a ΔMLSS yield of 233 mg/L was achieved under the chosen optimal conditions. This excellent correlation between the predicted and measured values provides confidence in the model.