SULPHUR REDUCING BACTERIUM AND ITS USE IN BIOLOGICAL DESULPHURISATION PROCESSES

摘要

A new sulphur-reducing bacterium denoted as KT7 is described. It is a low-GC Gram-positive bacterium related to the genus Desulfoto-maculum, capable of reducing sulphite and sulphate to sulphide, having an optimum growth at a temperature between 48 and 70 DEG C, at a pH of between 5 and 9 and at a conductivity of the liquid medium between 0 and 40 mS/cm. It can be used in a process for removing sulphur compounds from water, wherein the sulphur-containing water is subjected to anaerobic treatment with the new sulphur-reducing bacteria, with the addition of an electron donor. The sulphur-containing water can be spent scrubbing liquid from a flue gas desulphurisation step.