Realizing a high-rate sulfidogenic reactor driven by sulfur-reducing bacteria with organic substrate dosage minimization and cost-effectiveness maximization

Biological sulfur reduction is an attractive sulfidogenic technology for the treatment of organics-deficient metal-laden wastewater, because it theoretically reduces the electron donor consumption by 75%, compared to sulfate reduction. However, reducing the external organic substrate dosage may lower the sulfur reduction rate. Supplying with a more biodegradable organic substrate could possibly enhance sulfidogenic activity but also increase the chemical cost. Therefore, the sulfide production performance of a sulfur-reducing bioreactor feeding with varied levels of organic supply, and different types of organic substrates were investigated. The results showed that high-rate sulfide production (12.30 mg S/L/h) in a sulfur-reducing bioreactor can be achieved at the minimal dosage of organic substrate as low as 39 mg C/L of organic carbon in the influent. Changing the type of organic substrate posed a significant effect on the sulfidogenic activity in the sulfur-reducing bioreactor. Sodium acetate was found to be the optimal substrate to achieve the highest sulfide production rate (28.20 mg S/L/h) by sulfur-reducing bacteria (S⁰RB), followed by ethanol, methanol, glycerol, pyruvic acid, acetic acid, glucose, sucrose, malic acid, sodium formate, formic acid, N-propanol, N-butanol, lactic acid, sodium lactate, propionic acid and sodium propionate (2.87 mg S/L/h as the lowest rate). However, the cost-effectiveness analysis showed that glucose was the most cost-effective organic substrate to realize the sulfur reduction process in high sulfide production rate (20.13 mg S/L/h) and low chemical cost (5.94 kg S/$). The utilization pathway of the different organic substrates in the sulfur-reducing bioreactor was also discussed.