• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.615-621
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• 2010

The viability of low-temperature sulfate reduction with hydrogen as electron donor was studied with a bench-scale gas-lift bioreactor (GLB) operated at $9^{\circ}C$. Prior to the GLB experiment, the temperature range of sulfate reduction of the inoculum was assayed. The results of the temperature gradient assay indicated that the inoculum was a psychrotolerant mesophilic enrichment culture that had an optimal temperature for sulfate reduction of $31^{\circ}C$, and minimum and maximum temperatures of $7^{\circ}C$ and $41^{\circ}C$, respectively. In the GLB experiment at $9^{\circ}C$, a sulfate reduction rate of 500-600 mg $l^{-1}d^{-1}$, corresponding to a specific activity of 173 mg ${SO_4}^{2-}g\;VSS^{-1}d^{-1}$, was obtained. The electron flow from the consumed $H_2$-gas to sulfate reduction varied between 27% and 52%, whereas the electron flow to acetate production decreased steadily from 15% to 5%. No methane was produced. Acetate was produced from $CO_2$ and $H_2$ by homoacetogenic bacteria. Acetate supported the growth of some heterotrophic sulfate-reducing bacteria. The sulfate reduction rate in the GLB was limited by the slow biomass growth rate at $9^{\circ}C$ and low biomass retention in the reactor. Nevertheless, this study demonstrated the potential sulfate reduction rate of psychrotolerant sulfate-reducing mesophiles at suboptimal temperature.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.408-412
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• 2005

In a previous research, it has been found that it could be possible to increase the partial pressure of hydrogen and hydrogen yield by scavenging the $CO_2$ from the heads pace of reactor. In this research, the positive and negative effects of the $CO_2$ scavenging especially on the fate of by-products were investigated by a batch experiment. Production and conversion of by-products had critical relationships with hydrogen evolution and consumption. The maximum hydrogen fraction in the headspace was increased from 66.4 to 91.2% by removing the $CO_2$ in the headspace and the degradation rate of glucose was also enhanced. The removal of $CO_2$ effectively hindered the homoacetogenesis but caused several negative phenomena. The degradation of ethanol, one of the main products, was inhibited by the high partial pressure of hydrogen and/or the absence of $CO_2$. Also it was observed that other by-products such as propionate, propanol, acetone, etc. could not be degraded further after produced from glucose. On the other hand, solventogenesis was not observed in spite of the high hydrogen partial pressure apart from previous researches and it might hinder the excess production of acetate, which could cause overall inhibition. From this research, it could be implicated that the $CO_2$ scavenging method could be recommended if the fermentation was purposed to produce hydrogen and ethanol.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.49-55
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• 2012

A 1.28 L-batch reactor and continuous-flow stirred tank reactor (CFSTR) fed with formate and trichloroethene (TCE) were operated for 120 days and 56 days, respectively, to study the effect of formate as electron donor on anaerobic reductive dechlorination (ARD) of TCE to cis-1,2-dichloroethylene (c-DCE), vinyl chloride (VC), and ethylene (ETH). In batch reactor, injected 60 ${\mu}mol$ TCE was completely degraded in the presence of 20% hydrogen gas ($H_2$) in less than 8 days by anaerobic dechlorination mixed-culture (300 mg-soluble protein), Evanite Culture with ability to completely degrade tetrachloroethene (PCE) and -TCE to ETH under anaerobic conditions. Once the formate was used as electron donor instead of hydrogen gas in batch or chemostat system, the TCE-dechlorination rate decreased and acetate production rate increased. It indicates that the concentration of hydrogen produced in both systems is possibly more close to threshold for homoacetogenesis process. Soluble protein concentration of Evanite culture during the batch test increased from 300 mg to 688 mg for 120 days. Through the protein monitoring, we confirmed an increase of microbial population during the reactor operation. In CFSTR test, TCE was fed continuously at 9.9 ppm (75.38 ${\mu}mol/L$) and the influent formate feed concentration increased stepwise from 1.3 mmol/L to 14.3 mmol/L. Injected TCE was accumulated at 18 days of HRT, but TCE was completely degraded at 36 days of HRT without accumulation of the injected-TCE during the left of experiment period, getting $H_2$ from fermentative hydrogen production of injected formate. Although c-DCE was also accumulated for 23 days after beginning of CFSTR operation, it reached steady-state in the presence of excessive formate. We also evaluated microbial dynamic of the culture at different chemical state in the reactor by DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis).