Influence of various nitrogenous electron acceptors on the anaerobic sulfide oxidation

Abstract

The effect of nitrate and nitrite as electron acceptors on the performance of anaerobic sulfide oxidizing process (ASO process) was investigated. For nitrate–ASO process, the maximum influent nitrogen concentration was lower than that in nitrite–ASO process, but the maximum influent sulfur concentration was higher than that of nitrite–ASO process. The half saturation values for nitrogen and sulfur in both processes were similar. The minimum reaction time taken for nitrite and sulfide was relatively shorter than in nitrite–ASO reactor. As indicated by sensitivity ratio, activated sludge was more tolerant to sulfide, which had no significant differences between two processes; while it was relatively more sensitive to nitrite over nitrate. PCR–DGGE fingerprints, Dice and Shannon similarity indices and sequencing results all suggested that the microbial communities in both reactors were similar. The use of nitrate as an electron acceptor may be preferable over nitrite to treat sulfide-rich wastewaters.