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Simultaneous heavy metals removal and municipal sewage sludge dewaterability improvement in bioleaching processes by various inoculums

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Abstract

The heavy metals content and dewaterability of municipal sewage sludge (MSS) are important parameters affecting its subsequent disposal and land application. Six kinds of inoculums were prepared to examine the characteristics of heavy metals removal and MSS dewaterability improvement in bioleaching processes. The results showed that Cu, Zn and Cd bioleaching efficiencies (12 days) were 81–91, 87–93 and 81–89 %, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of Fe–S control (P < 0.05) and blank control (P < 0.01). The bioleaching boosted by the prepared inoculums could also significantly enhance MSS dewaterability (P < 0.01). The centrifugal dehydration efficiency of MSS rose from 73.00 to 90.00 % at day 12. Microscopic observations and energy dispersive spectrum analysis demonstrated that the dewaterability improvement might be attributed to the changes of sludge structure from flocculent to obvious granular and the formation of secondary minerals mainly consisting of iron, oxygen and sulfur elements. The results above demonstrated that bacterial consortium enriched from acid mine drainage (AMD) was suitable to boost sludge bioleaching for heavy metals removal and dewaterability improvement. It also suggested that the synergy of sulfur/ferrous-oxidizing bacteria (SFOB) enriched from AMD and the cooperation of exogenous and indigenous SFOB significantly promoted bioleaching efficiencies.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51178191) and Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (No. NCET-11-0166).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Chaohong Shi, Nengwu Zhu, Ru Shang, Naixin Kang & Pingxiao Wu

  2. The Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters of Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Nengwu Zhu & Pingxiao Wu

  3. The Key Laboratory of Environmental Protection and Eco-Remediation of Guangdong Regular Higher Education Institutions, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Nengwu Zhu & Pingxiao Wu

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  1. Chaohong Shi
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  2. Nengwu Zhu
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Correspondence to Nengwu Zhu.

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Shi, C., Zhu, N., Shang, R. et al. Simultaneous heavy metals removal and municipal sewage sludge dewaterability improvement in bioleaching processes by various inoculums. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 31, 1719–1728 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-015-1922-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-015-1922-2

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