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Influence of pH, EDTA/Fe(II) ratio, and microbial culture on Fe(II)-mediated autotrophic denitrification

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Abstract

Fe(II)-mediated autotrophic denitrification with four different microbial cultures under different pH and EDTA/Fe(II) conditions was investigated in batch bioassays. Initially, the highest nitrate removal (72%) was achieved with an activated sludge inoculum. The use of pure cultures of Pseudogulbenkiania strain 2002 and Thiobacillus denitrificans resulted in a 55 and 52% nitrate removal, respectively. No denitrification was observed for a mixed culture dominated by Thiobacillus thioparus and T. denitrificans. A longer enrichment on Fe(II) and the supplementation of thiosulfate as additional electron donor were needed to stimulate the denitrifying activity of the Thiobacillus-mixed culture. A second subculture on Fe(II) as sole electron donor resulted in higher denitrification efficiencies for all microbial cultures. In particular, nitrate removal reached up to 84% with a specific nitrate removal rate of 1.160 mM·(g VSS·day)−1 in the bioassays seeded with the Thiobacillus-mixed culture. All cultures were favored by decreasing the EDTA/Fe(II) molar ratio from 2.0 to 0.5. The most significant denitrification enhancement was observed for the Pseudogulbenkiania species, indicating a lower tolerance to EDTA. The two pure cultures effectively maintained denitrification at pH 7.0 and were more sensitive to a pH decrease. Conversely, the optimal pH was 6.0 for the Thiobacillus-mixed and activated sludge cultures.

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Acknowledgments

The study was carried out in the framework of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate ETeCoS3 (Environmental Technologies for Contaminated Solids, Soils, and Sediments) funded by the European Commission under the grant agreement FPA no. 2010-0009. Kyriaki Kiskira was supported by a grant from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR).

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Author notes

  1. Kyriaki Kiskira

    Present address: Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Via Di Biasio 43, 03043, Cassino (FR), Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Via Di Biasio 43, 03043, Cassino (FR), Italy

    Giovanni Esposito

  2. Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Napoli “Federico II”, Via Claudio 21, 80125, Naples, Italy

    Stefano Papirio

  3. Laboratoire Géomatériaux et Environnement (LGE), Université Paris-Est, EA 4508, UPEM, 77454, Marne-la-Vallée, France

    Eric Didier van Hullebusch

  4. Department of Environmental Engineering and Water Technology, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, P.O. Box 3015, 2601 DA, Delft, The Netherlands

    Eric Didier van Hullebusch

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  1. Kyriaki Kiskira
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Correspondence to Kyriaki Kiskira.

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Kiskira, K., Papirio, S., van Hullebusch, E.D. et al. Influence of pH, EDTA/Fe(II) ratio, and microbial culture on Fe(II)-mediated autotrophic denitrification. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 21323–21333 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9736-4

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