Sources of sulfide in waste streams and current biotechnologies for its removal

Sulfide-containing waste streams are generated by a number of industries. It is emitted into the environment as dissolved sulfide (S2- and HS-) in wastewaters and as H2S in waste gases. Due to its corrosive nature, biological hydrogen sulfide removal processes are being investigated to overcome the chemical and disposal costs associated with existing chemically based removal processes. The nitrogen and sulfur metabolism interacts at various levels of the wastewater treatment process. Hence, the sulfur cycle offers possibilities to integrate nitrogen removal in the treatment process, which needs to be further optimized by appropriate design of the reactor configuration, optimization of performance parameters, retention of biomass and optimization of biomass growth. The present paper reviews the biotechnological advances to remove sulfides from various environments.