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Analysis of the process and factors influencing microbial phosphine production

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Abstract

The process of phosphine production by phosphate-reducing bacteria Pseudescherichia sp. SFM4 has been well studied. Phosphine originates from the biochemical stage of functional bacteria that synthesize pyruvate. Stirring the aggregated bacterial mass and supplying pure hydrogen could lead to an increase of 40 and 44% phosphine production, respectively. Phosphine was produced when bacterial cells agglomerated in the reactor. Extracellular polymeric substances secreted on microbial aggregates promoted the formation of phosphine due to the presence of groups containing phosphorus element. Phosphorus metabolism gene and phosphorus source analysis implied that functional bacteria used anabolic organic phosphorus, especially containing carbon-phosphorus bonds, as a source with [H] as electron donor to produce phosphine.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 42177369), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (no. 2019YFA0210400), the Science and Technology Planning Project of Maoming, China (no. 2019S002), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, SCUT (no. 2020ZYGXZR105).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Taizhou University, Taizhou, 318000, People’s Republic of China

    Yimin Fan

  2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Petrochemical Pollution Processes and Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming, 525000, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaojun Niu & Dongqing Zhang

  3. School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaojun Niu

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  1. Yimin Fan
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  2. Xiaojun Niu
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Contributions

Yimin Fan: conceptualization, methodology, software, and investigation. Xiaojun Niu: validation, formal analysis, visualization, software, and data curation. Dongqing Zhang: validation, formal analysis, visualization, and writing—reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Xiaojun Niu.

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Fan, Y., Niu, X. & Zhang, D. Analysis of the process and factors influencing microbial phosphine production. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 76595–76605 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27293-7

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