Abstract
A low-cost, long-term and maintenance-free method was put forward to treat simulation of copper-containing pit wastewater which has caused a widespread environmental problem in Yunnan Province, China. The objective of this work was to investigate the treatment of low concentrations of Cu2+ in the mine pit water with sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) using bagasse as both the slow-release carbon source and the carrier in biofilm reactors. Following the long-term trail experiment for 200 days, the Cu2+ concentration decreased from 10 to 0.2 mg/L in the SRB biofilm system. The result showed utilizing the bagasse as both the slow-release carbon source and the carrier in biofilm reactors showed good and stable performance for Cu2+ removal with long-term maintenance-free. Through the analysis of sediment samples indicated that the sediment was basically copper sulfide precipitate, which proved the feasibility of copper recovery in our bioreactors. It revealed the feasibility of bagasse for SRB to remove Cu2+ and provided a potential method to treat mine pit water.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bai H, Kang Y, Quan HE et al (2013) Treatment of acid mine drainage by sulfate reducing bacteria with iron in bench scale runs. Bioresour Technol 128:818–822
Bayrakdar A, Sahinkaya E, Gungor M et al (2009) Performance of sulfidogenic anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) treating acidic and zinc-containing wastewater. Bioresour Technol 100:4354–4360
Bilek F, Wagner S (2012) Long term performance of an AMD treatment bioreactor using chemolithoautotrophic sulfate reduction and ferrous iron precipitation under in situ groundwater conditions. Bioresour Technol 104:221–227
Bratkova S, Koumanova B, Beschkov V (2013) Biological treatment of mining wastewaters by fixed-bed bioreactors at high organic loading. Bioresour Technol 137:409–413
Cao J, Zhang G, Mao Z-S et al (2012) Influence of electron donors on the growth and activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria. Int J Miner Process 106–109:58–64
Equeenuddin SM, Tripathy S, Sahoo PK et al (2010) Hydrogeochemical characteristics of acid mine drainage and water pollution at Makum Coalfield, India. J Geochem Explor 105:75–82
Gilcreas FW (1955) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. American Public Health Association, Washington
Hao OJ, Huang L, Chen JM et al (1994) Effects of metal additions on sulfate reduction activity in wastewaters. Toxicol Environ Chem 46:197–212
Hu X, Li S, Rong Y et al (2014) Effect of Cu2+ on biofilm and extracellular polymeric substance. J Chem Ind Eng 65:1062–1067 (in Chinese)
Huisman JL, Schouten G, Schultz C (2006) Biologically produced sulphide for purification of process streams, effluent treatment and recovery of metals in the metal and mining industry. Hydrometallurgy 83:106–113
Ji S, Kim S, Ko J (2008) The status of the passive treatment systems for acid mine drainage in South Korea. Environ Geol 55:1181–1194
Jing ZQ, Hu Y, Niu QG et al (2013) UASB performance and electron competition between methane-producing archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria in treating sulfate-rich wastewater containing ethanol and acetate. Bioresour Technol 137:349–357
Jong T, Parry DL (2006) Microbial sulfate reduction under sequentially acidic conditions in an upflow anaerobic packed bed bioreactor. Water Res 40:2561–2571
Lee DJ, Liu X, Weng HL (2014) Sulfate and organic carbon removal by microbial fuel cell with sulfate-reducing bacteria and sulfide-oxidising bacteria anodic biofilm. Bioresour Technol 156:14–19
Loh YR, Sujan D, Rahman ME et al (2013) Sugarcane bagasse—the future composite material: a literature review. Resour Conserv Recycl 75:14–22
Lu J, Chen TH, Wu J et al (2011) Acid tolerance of an acid mine drainage bioremediation system based on biological sulfate reduction. Bioresour Technol 102:10401–10406
Lu J, Wu J, Chen TH et al (2012) Valuable metal recovery during the bioremediation of acidic mine drainage using sulfate reducing straw bioremediation system. Water Air Soil Pollut 223:3049–3055
Luptakova A, Kusnierova M (2005) Bioremediation of acid mine drainage contaminated by SRB. Hydrometallurgy 77:97–102
Maqsoud A, Neculita CM, Bussière B et al (2016) Impact of fresh tailing deposition on the evolution of groundwater hydrogeochemistry at the abandoned Manitou mine site, Quebec, Canada. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23:9054–9072
Neculita CM, Zagury GJ (2008) Biological treatment of highly contaminated acid mine drainage in batch reactors: long-term treatment and reactive mixture characterization. J Hazard Mater 157:358–366
Nevatalo LM, Bijmans MFM, Lens PNL et al (2010a) Hydrogenotrophic sulfate reduction in a gas-lift bioreactor operated at 9 degrees C. J Microbiol Biotechnol 20:615–621
Nevatalo LM, Makinen AE, Kaksonen AH et al (2010b) Biological hydrogen sulfide production in an ethanol–lactate fed fluidized-bed bioreactor. Bioresour Technol 101:276–284
O’Flaherty V (1999) Effect of sulphate addition on volatile fatty acid and ethanol degradation in an anaerobic hybrid reactor. I: process disturbance and remediation. Bioresour Technol 68:109–120
Oyekola OO, van Hille RP, Harrison STL (2009) Study of anaerobic lactate metabolism under biosulfidogenic conditions. Water Res 43:3345–3354
Pagnanelli F, Cruz Viggi C, Toro L (2010) Isolation and quantification of cadmium removal mechanisms in batch reactors inoculated by sulphate reducing bacteria: biosorption versus bioprecipitation. Bioresour Technol 101:2981–2987
Pareek S, Azuma JI, Matsui S et al (2001) Degradation of lignin and lignin model compound under sulfate reducing condition. Water Sci Technol 44:351–358
Robinson-Lora MA, Brennan RA (2009) Efficient metal removal and neutralization of acid mine drainage by crab-shell chitin under batch and continuous-flow conditions. Bioresour Technol 100:5063–5071
Roisenberg C, Loubet M, Formoso ML et al (2015) Tracing the origin and evolution of geochemical characteristics of waters from the Candiota Coal Mine Area (Southern Brazil): part I. Mine Water Environ 35:29–43
Roman H, Madikane M, Pletschke BI et al (2008) The degradation of lignocellulose in a chemically and biologically generated sulphidic environment. Bioresour Technol 99:2333–2339
Sene L, Converti A, Felipe MGA et al (2002) Sugarcane bagasse as alternative packing material for biofiltration of benzene polluted gaseous streams: a preliminary study. Bioresour Technol 83:153–157
Tekerlekopoulou AG, Tsiflikiotou M, Akritidou L et al (2013) Modelling of biological Cr(VI) removal in draw-fill reactors using microorganisms in suspended and attached growth systems. Water Res 47:623–636
Tessier A, Campbell PGC, Bisson M (1979) Sequential extraction procedure for the speciation of trace metals. Anal Chem 51:844–851
Tsukamoto TK, Killion HA, Miller GC (2004) Column experiments for microbiological treatment of acid mine drainage: low-temperature, low-pH and matrix investigations. Water Res 38:1405–1418
Viggi C, Pagnanelli F, Cibati A et al (2010) Biotreatment and bioassessment of heavy metal removal by sulphate reducing bacteria in fixed bed reactors. Water Res 44:151–158
Vitor G, Palma TC, Vieira B et al (2015) Start-up, adjustment and long-term performance of a two-stage bioremediation process, treating real acid mine drainage, coupled with biosynthesis of ZnS nanoparticles and ZnS/TiO2 nanocomposites. Miner Eng 75:85–93
Wang F, Huang W, Guo C et al (2012) Functionalized magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles: fabrication, laccase adsorption performance and direct laccase capture from Trametes versicolor fermentation broth. Bioresour Technol 126:117–122
Wang H, Lin H, Tran-Dinh N et al (2015) Draft genome sequence of Ruminoclostridium sp. Ne3, clostridia from an enrichment culture obtained from Australian subterranean termite, Nasutitermes exitiosus. Genome Announc 3:e00305
Wanner P, Waber N, Wanner C (2015) Assessing the environmental hazard of using seawater for ore processing at the Lasail mine site in the sultanate of Oman. Mine Water Environ 34:59–74
Wei X, Fang LC, Cai P et al (2011) Influence of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on Cd adsorption by bacteria. Environ Pollut 159:1369–1374
Wu Y, Zhang S, Guo X et al (2008) Adsorption of chromium(III) on lignin. Bioresour Technol 99:7709–7715
Xu XJ, Chen C, Wang AJ et al (2012) Enhanced elementary sulfur recovery in integrated sulfate-reducing, sulfur-producing rector under micro-aerobic condition. Bioresour Technol 116:517–521
Yamashita T, Yamamoto-Ikemoto R, Zhu JQ (2011) Sulfate-reducing bacteria in a denitrification reactor packed with wood as a carbon source. Bioresour Technol 102:2235–2241
Zhao YG, Wang AJ, Ren NQ (2010) Effect of carbon sources on sulfidogenic bacterial communities during the starting-up of acidogenic sulfate-reducing bioreactors. Bioresour Technol 101:2952–2959
Zhou Q, Chen YZ, Yang M et al (2013) Enhanced bioremediation of heavy metal from effluent by sulfate-reducing bacteria with copper–iron bimetallic particles support. Bioresour Technol 136:413–417
Acknowledgments
The work was supported by an appropriation from the National Natural Science Foundation of china (Nos. 51178208, 51368024) and the Key projects in Yunnan Province Department of Education (Nos. 2013Z123, 2015Z118), and the University Enterprise Cooperation Projects (2013YT02). Thanks to the Modern Analysis Center of Kunming University of Science and Technology.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is part of a Topical Collection in Environmental Earth Sciences on "Environment and Health in China II’’, guest edited by Tian-Xiang Yue, Cui Chen, Bing Xu and Olaf Kolditz.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hu, X., Hu, Y., Chen, K. et al. Treatment of simulation of copper-containing pit wastewater with sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in biofilm reactors. Environ Earth Sci 75, 1305 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-6108-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-6108-1