Comparison of microbial communities in pilot-scale bioreactors treating Bayer liquor organic wastes.

Western Australian bauxite deposits are naturally associated with high amounts of humic and fulvic materials that co-digest during Bayer processing. Sodium oxalate remains soluble and can co-precipitate with aluminium hydroxide unless it is removed. Removal of sodium oxalate requires a secondary crystallisation step followed by storage.

Acidianus sulfidivorans sp. nov., an extremely acidophilic, thermophilic archaeon isolated from a solfatara on Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea, and emendation of the genus description.

A novel, extremely thermoacidophilic, obligately chemolithotrophic archaeon (strain JP7(T)) was isolated from a solfatara on Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea. Cells of this organism were non-motile, Gram-negative staining, irregular-shaped cocci, 0.5-1.

Characterization of a thermophilic sulfur oxidizing enrichment culture dominated by a Sulfolobus sp. obtained from an underground hot spring for use in extreme bioleaching conditions.

A thermoacidophilic elemental sulfur and chalcopyrite oxidizing enrichment culture VS2 was obtained from hot spring run-off sediments of an underground mine. It contained only archaeal species, namely a Sulfolobus metallicus-related organism (96% similarity in partial 16S rRNA gene) and Thermoplasma acidophilum (98% similarity in partial 16S rRNA gene). The VS2 culture grew in a temperature range of 35-76 degrees C.

Ferroplasma cupricumulans sp. nov., a novel moderately thermophilic, acidophilic archaeon isolated from an industrial-scale chalcocite bioleach heap.

A new species of Archaea was isolated from an industrial mineral sulphide bioleach heap. Strain BH2, a non-motile pleomorphic coccus, was capable of chemomixotrophic growth on ferrous sulphate and yeast extract. Growth was not supported in the absence of yeast extract.

Novel thermophilic sulfate-reducing bacteria from a geothermally active underground mine in Japan.

Thermophilic sulfate-reducing bacteria were enriched from samples obtained from a geothermal underground mine in Japan. The enrichment cultures contained bacteria affiliated with the genera Desulfotomaculum, Thermanaeromonas, Thermincola, Thermovenabulum, Moorella, "Natronoanaerobium," and Clostridium. Two novel thermophilic sulfate-reducing strains, RL50JIII and RL80JIV, affiliated with the genera Desulfotomaculum and Thermanaeromonas, respectively, were isolated.

Simple organic electron donors support diverse sulfate-reducing communities in fluidized-bed reactors treating acidic metal- and sulfate-containing wastewater.

Bacterial diversity of lactate- and ethanol-utilizing sulfate-reducing fluidized-bed reactor (FBR) communities was investigated with culture-independent methods. The FBRs were fed for 500 days with synthetic mineral processing wastewater containing sulfate, zinc and iron with hydraulic retention time of 16-24 h. Sodium lactate or ethanol was used as electron donor for microbial sulfate reduction.

Kinetic and phylogenetic characterization of an anaerobic dechlorinating microbial community.

The reductive dechlorination (RD) of tetrachloroethene (PCE) to vinyl chloride (VC) and, to a lesser extent, to ethene (ETH) by an anaerobic microbial community has been investigated by studying the processes and kinetics of the main physiological components of the consortium. Molecular hydrogen, produced by methanol-utilizing acetogens, was the electron donor for the PCE RD to VC and ETH without forming any appreciable amount of other chlorinated intermediates and in the near absence of methanogenic activity. The microbial community structure of the consortium was investigated by preparing a 16S rDNA clone library and by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).