Removal of Antimony in Wastewater by Antimony Tolerant Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria Isolated from Municipal Sludge.

He Li,Jun Zhang,Gege Zhang,Zhenyu Cui,Ziqi Bian,Shuwen Xue,Shiwei Wang,Fanfan Guo,Ruiqing Chai,Yue Fei,Shuqi Zhang,Li Wang

doi:10.3390/ijms23031594

Abstract

Antimony (Sb), a global and priority controlled pollutant, causes severe environmental issues. Bioremediation by microbial communities containing sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) is considered to be among the safest, economical, and environmentally friendly methods to remove Sb from wastewater. However, the roles of SRB species in these communities remain uncertain, and pure cultures of bacteria that may be highly efficient have not yet been developed for Sb removal. In this study, an Sb tolerant community was enriched from municipal sludge, and molecular ecological analysis showed that Escherichia (40%) and Desulfovibrio (15%) were the dominant bacteria. Further isolation and identification showed that the enriched SRB strains were closely related to Cupidesulfovibrio oxamicus, based on the molecular analyses of 16S rRNA and dsrB genes. Among them, a strain named SRB49 exhibited the highest activity in removal of Sb(V). SRB49 was able to remove 95% of Sb(V) at a concentration of 100 mg/L within 48 h under optimum conditions: a temperature of 37–40 °C, an initial pH value of 8, 4 mM of sulfate, and an initial redox potential of 145–229 mV. SEM-EDX analysis showed that SRB49 did not adsorb Sb(V) but reduced and precipitated Sb(V) via the formation of Sb2S3. The results demonstrated the potential roles that pure cultures of SRB species may play in Sb removal and the use of Sb-tolerant SRB strains for Sb remediation.

Highlights

Key Laboratory of Resources Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China
sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) species such as Desulfovibrio spp. and Desulfomicrobium spp. have been found in surprisingly low proportions (
The illumina sequencing of the 16 S rRNA gene of the SRB enriched community obtained a total of 48,303 sequences and identified 219 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) at a 97% sequence similarity cutoff

Summary

Introduction

Key Laboratory of Resources Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China. Antimony (Sb), a global and priority controlled pollutant, causes severe environmental issues. Bioremediation by microbial communities containing sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) is considered to be among the safest, economical, and environmentally friendly methods to remove. The roles of SRB species in these communities remain uncertain, and pure cultures of bacteria that may be highly efficient have not yet been developed for Sb removal. An Sb tolerant community was enriched from municipal sludge, and molecular ecological analysis showed that Escherichia (40%) and Desulfovibrio (15%) were the dominant bacteria. Further isolation and identification showed that the enriched SRB strains were closely related to Cupidesulfovibrio oxamicus, based on the molecular analyses of 16S rRNA and dsrB genes. A strain named SRB49 exhibited the highest activity in removal of Sb(V). 95% of Sb(V) at a concentration of 100 mg/L within 48 h under optimum conditions: a temperature of 37–40 ◦ C, an initial pH value of 8, 4 mM of sulfate, and an initial redox potential of 145–229 mV

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion