Alternative substrates of bacterial sulphate reduction suitable for the biological-chemical treatment of acid mine drainage

The impacts of AMD pollution on biological systems are mostly severe and the problem may persist from many decades to thousands of years. Consequently AMD prior to being released into the environment must be treated to meet government standards for the amount of metal and non-metal ions contained in the water. One of the best available technologies for the removal of metals from AMD is precipitation as metal sulphides. SRB applications for AMD treatment involve a few principal stages. The first stage is the cultivation of SRB i.e. the bacterial sulphate reduction. At the laboratory conditions the sodium lactate is the energetic substrate for the growth of bacteria. Its price is not economic for the application in the practice and is needed investigate the alternative substitutes. The aim of this work was the cultivation of SRB using the selected energetic substrates such as: calcium lactate, ethanol, saccharose, glucose and whey. Experimental studies confirm that in the regard to the amount of reduced sulphates the calcium lactate and ethanol are the best alternative substrates for the bacterial sulphate-reduction.