Removing arsenic and hydrogen sulfide production using arsenic-tolerant sulfate-reducing bacteria

Environmental remediation technologies that involve the use of sulfate-reducing bacteria constitute a feasible alternative to the remediation of sites polluted with heavy metals and metalloids. The present study evaluates hydrogen sulfide production and arsenic removal by two microbial consortia (C1 and C2) in batch systems exposed to different arsenic concentrations and oxidation states. We identify the following three consecutive stages of arsenate removal: (1) hydrogen sulfide production/accumulation, (2) arsenate reduction to arsenite associated with the incomplete oxidation of hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur and (3) arsenic polysulfide precipitation as the main arsenic removal mechanism from aqueous solution. Kinetic parameters are determined in regard to the arsenic oxidation state through the fit of hydrogen sulfide production. The r (max) reached by C1 and C2 is increased seven- or eightfold when 250 mM As[+5] was used instead 250 mM As[+3]. Arsenic removal by extracellular precipitation of arsenic polysulfides associated with elemental sulfur precipitation detected through scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) can explain the exceptional value of r (max) observed at 250 mM during As[+5] exposition.