Effect of ferrous iron loading on dewaterability, heavy metal removal and bacterial community of digested sludge by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans.

Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans ILS-2 was adapted in digested sludge and used to treat sludge for dewaterability improvement. Results showed that increasing ferrous iron loading increased sludge dewaterability, but the inoculation of the bioleaching strain had little effect on sludge dewaterability compared to controls without the strain. The total extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) contents of sludges with and without bioleaching treatment were similar except for bioleaching treatment at 10% ferrous iron loading (on sludge total solids) where total EPS was higher with bioleaching treatment. However, bioleaching treatment for 48 h had a notable effect on removal of heavy metals, such as Mn, Ni and Zn, especially at the high loadings of ferrous iron. In the presence of A. ferrooxidans, the removal of Ni, Mn and Zn reached 93%, 88% and 80%, respectively, at a ferrous iron loading of 21%. The sequencing of 16S rRNA genes indicated that increasing ferrous iron loadings to 15% and 21% increased the relative abundance of Acidithiobacillus, Acidocella (with A. ferrooxidans) and Carboxylicivirga (without A. ferrooxidans) but decreased the abundance of Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter after 48 h treatment. This study enhanced the understanding of the correlations between bioleaching treatment of digested sludge, sludge dewaterability, heavy metal removal and bacterial communities.