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H2S degradation is reflected by both the activity and composition of the microbial community in a compost biofilter

  • Environmental Biotechnology
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Abstract

In this study, 16S rRNA- and rDNA-based denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) were used to study the temporal and spatial evolution of the microbial communities in a compost biofilter removing H2S and in a control biofilter without H2S loading. During the first 81 days of the experiment, the H2S removal efficiencies always exceeded 93% at loading rates between 4.1 and 30 g m−3 h−1. Afterwards, the H2S removal efficiency decreased to values between 44 and 71%. RNA-based DGGE analysis showed that H2S loading to the biofilter increased the stability of the active microbial community but decreased the activity-based diversity and evenness. The most intense band in both the RNA- and DNA-based DGGE patterns of the H2S-degrading biofilter represented the sulfur oxidizing bacterium Thiobacillusthioparus. This suggested that T. thioparus constituted a major part of the bacterial community and was an important primary degrader in the H2S-degrading biofilter. The decreasing H2S removal efficiencies near the end of the experiment were not accompanied by a substantial change of the DGGE patterns. Therefore, the decreased H2S removal was probably not caused by a failing microbiology but rather by a decrease of the mass transfer of substrates after agglutination of the compost particles.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a scholarship from the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen) (IWT/SB/11314/Sercu). The authors acknowledge Peter Machilse at Intercommunale Grondbeleid en Expansie Antrwerpen (IGEAN) for providing the compost material, and Han Vervaeren and Robin Temmerman for critically reviewing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Organic Chemistry & Technology Research Group (EnVOC), Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Bram Sercu & Herman Van Langenhove

  2. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Bram Sercu, Nico Boon & Willy Verstraete

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  1. Bram Sercu
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  2. Nico Boon
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  3. Willy Verstraete
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  4. Herman Van Langenhove
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Correspondence to Herman Van Langenhove.

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Sercu, B., Boon, N., Verstraete, W. et al. H2S degradation is reflected by both the activity and composition of the microbial community in a compost biofilter. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 72, 1090–1098 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-006-0382-x

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