Successive Ferric and Sulphate Reduction using Dissimilatory Bacterial Cultures

In the present work the kinetics of ferric reduction was investigated using dissimilatory ferric- and sulphate-reducing bacterial cultures. The effect of sulphate reduction on Fe(III) reduction was also studied. The study is an attempt to improve the biological reduction rate of Fe(III) as an alternative biotechnological way to the reduction step in steelmaking processing operations. The results obtained show that the reduction of ferric iron and sulphate took place in a successive way and none synergetic effect was detected. The simultaneous action of both metabolic activities did not enhance the process but slowed down the kinetics of ferric reduction. The reduction process of 3 g/L of soluble ferric and 3 g/L of sulphate lasted 25 days. Ferric iron was the first electron acceptor to be reduced in the first 15 days followed by the sulphate reduction in the following 10 days. That result suggests that ferric reduction is a preferential metabolic process over sulphate reduction when both electron acceptors coexist. None improvement in the kinetics was observed using an electron donor concentration in excess. In contrast, the total reduction of ferric ion (3 g/L) with adapted bacterial cultures was achieved in only 36 h. The presence of sulphate had no effect on the ferric reduction. Finally, an improved culture medium for ferric-reducing bacteria is also proposed.