Journal of Environmental Biology

Isolation of Thiobacillus sp from aerobic sludge of distillery and dairy effluent treatment plants and its sulfide oxidation activity at different concentrations

P. Ravichandra¹, Gopal Mugeraya³, A. Gangagni Rao¹, M. Ramakrishna² and Annapurna Jetty*¹

*annapurna@iictnet.org

¹Microbiology laboratory, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering Centre, ²Chemical Engineering Division,

Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Tarnaka, Hyderabad-500 007, India

³TIFAC-CORE in Industrial Biotechnology, Dept of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, 

Surathkal, Mangalore-575 157, India

(Received: December 09, 2005 ; Revised received: May 15, 2006; Accepted: June 17, 2006)

Abstract: In the present study two strains of Thiobacillus sp were isolated from aerobic sludge of distillery and dairy effluent treatment plant using standard methods of isolation and enrichment. Experiments were conducted using isolated cultures in batch bioreactor with initial sulfide concentration of 75 and 150 mg/l. The effect of initial sulfide concentration on the activity of isolated Thiobacillus sp was studied. Sulfide oxidizing capacity was also determined at different initial sulfide concentrations. The results from the study indicate the possible isolation of Thiobacillus cultures from native source and application in the full-scale reactor.

Key words:    Sulfur oxidizing bacteria, Sulfide, Isolation, Thiobacillus sp, Dairy and distillery sludge

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