A brief review on possible approaches towards controlling sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in wastewater treatment systems

Anaerobic processes in wastewater treatment and excess sludge digestion are desirable as these offer the prospect of energy recovery via the methane gas generated. However, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) generated from reduction of sulfate by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) during the process, is inhibitory to the methane producing bacteria (MPB). The SRBs and MPBs also compete for utilization of a key substrate in methanogenesis, volatile fatty acids. For development of effective methods to mitigate the adverse impact of SRBs on methanogenesis, it is important there is better understanding of the SRBs and this can begin with knowing which species are likely to be present in wastewater treatment. With this objective in mind, species of SRBs isolated from wastewater treatment systems reported in the literature have been summarized in this paper and discussed.