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Introduction
Published in Luis Carlos Reyes-Alvarado, Optimization of the electron donor supply to sulphate reducing bioreactors treating inorganic wastewater, 2018
In nature, the sulphate content in wastewaters can be reduced to sulphide by sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB), these microorganisms are capable of sulphate reduction throughout a dissimilatory pathway under anaerobic condition (Muyzer and Stams, 2008). The reduction of the sulphate content in industrial wastewater under non controlled conditions has affected rivers, like Rio Tinto and Odiel in Spain (Nieto et al., 2007) and the Pearl River in subtropical China (Lin et al., 2007), for example. On the other hand, sulphate reduction under controlled conditions (e.g. bioreactors) drives to sulphide production and further utilization of elemental sulphur produced from the sulphide (Hulshoff Pol et al., 1998). Even though there are sulphide emissions in nature due to the biogeochemical sulphur cycle (Reese et al., 2008), under any circumstance, hydrogen sulphide antropogenically produced must not be wasted to the environment as this acid is poisonous and toxic to humans and animals (Kage et al., 2004) apart from causing serious and expensive problems like corrosion in pipes and metal structures (Vollertsen et al., 2008).
Microbiological Aspects
Published in Héctor A. Videla, Manual of Biocorrosion, 2018
The sulfur cycle is also formed by two types of microorganisms able to reduce sulfate: (1) when sulfate is used as the sulfur source for its reduction to organic sulfides through a metabolic process called assimilatory sulfate reduction and (2) when the sulfate is used as the terminal electron acceptor in the anaerobic respiration, producing hydrogen sulfide through the dissimilatory sulfate reduction. One of the members of this group of microorganisms is the well known corrosion-causing SRB, Desulfovibrio desulfuricans. This is an obligate anaerobe and heterotroph using low molecular weight carbon compounds (e.g., lactate, acetate, propionate) as external carbon sources.
Batch assays for biological sulfate-reduction: a review towards a standardized protocol
Published in Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 2020
Antonio Serrano, Miriam Peces, Sergi Astals, Denys K. Villa-Gómez
A variety of anthropogenic activities, especially at industrial level, generate waste and wastewater streams rich in sulfate. These industrial activities include food production (e.g. edible oil, seafood-processing), molasses fermentation, tannery, coal-burning power plants, paper industry, mining and metallurgical processes (Liamleam & Annachhatre, 2007). Additionally, the use of seawater for toilet flushing has increased the sulfate concentration in municipal sewage (Wu et al., 2016). Although high sulfate concentrations do not entail a direct environmental and health risk, they can unbalance the natural sulfur cycle (Silva, Varesche, Foresti, & Zaiat, 2002). This unbalance can lead to the formation of hydrogen sulfide, with its associated unpleasant odors, metal corrosion, and SOx emissions (Abel et al., 2015; Brown, 1982).