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Biological sulphate reduction using food industry wastes as carbon sources

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Abstract

Biological treatment with dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria has been considered the most promising alternative for decontamination of sulphate rich effluents. These wastewaters are usually deficient in electron donors and require their external addition to achieve complete sulphate reduction. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility of using food industry wastes (a waste from the wine industry and cheese whey) as carbon sources for dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria. The results show that these wastes can be efficiently used by these bacteria provided that calcite tailing is present as a neutralizing and buffer material. A 95 and 50 % sulphate reduction was achieved within 20 days of experiment by a consortium of dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria grown on media containing waste from the wine industry or cheese whey respectively. Identification of the dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria community using the dsr gene revealed the presence of the species Desulfovibrio fructosovorans, Desulfovibrio aminophilus and Desulfovibrio desulfuricans. The findings of the present study emphasise the potential of using wastes from the wine industry as carbon source for dissimilatory sulphate-reducing bacteria, combined with calcite tailing, in the development of cost effective and environmentally friendly bioremediation processes.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through Project ECOTEC (POCI/AMB/58512/2004). The authors would like to thank Centro de Desenvolvimento de Ciências e Tecnologias de Produção Vegetal (CDCTPV), from the Universidade do Algarve, for the utilization of HPLC and to Câmara Municipal de Faro for the authorization to collect sludge samples. We are grateful to Rogério Tenreiro and Sandra Chaves from Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências for providing the Desulfovibrio sp. DNA used in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ciências do Mar (CCMAR), Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal

    Mónica Martins & Maria Clara Costa

  2. Centro de Biomedicina Molecular e Estrutural (CBME), Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal

    Maria Leonor Faleiro & Ana Raquel Veríssimo

  3. Centro de Investigação de Química do Algarve, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal

    Raúl Jorge Barros

  4. FERN, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal

    Maria Clara Costa

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  1. Mónica Martins
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  2. Maria Leonor Faleiro
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  4. Ana Raquel Veríssimo
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Correspondence to Maria Clara Costa.

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Martins, M., Faleiro, M.L., Barros, R.J. et al. Biological sulphate reduction using food industry wastes as carbon sources. Biodegradation 20, 559–567 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-008-9245-8

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