Process for the anaerobic purification of waste waters containing furfural, bacteria usable therefor and their isolation

摘要

The anaerobic treatment or purification of furfural-containing waste water and in particular of the vapour condensates of sulphite waste liquor thickening in cellulose pulp fabrication in the absence of sulphate-reducing and methanogenic bacteria can, according to the invention, be simply started and controlled by addition of furfural-degrading bacteria. Such furfural-degrading bacteria are obtained starting with a source of anaerobic bacteria such as marsh, swamp or in particular sewage sludge with an intermediate enrichment in continuous liquid culture with supply of a furfural-containing solution by means of a special selection technique in which the bacteria (in different concentrations) are fixed in agar which is covered with a dilute solution of furfural, which acts as the sole carbon source and, on diffusing into the agar, forms a concentration gradient within which a concentration range which is tolerated by the bacteria is present in all cases. In this manner, discus-shaped, beige-coloured individual colonies of furfural-degrading bacteria are obtained which are highly motile, are in the form of slightly S-shaped bent rods with flagella and are morphologically similar to Desulphovibrio gigas.