ABSTRACT
Sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) are anaerobic and chemotrophic bacteria which have an important role in regulating the biogeochemical cycles of sulphur and carbon. Due to low sludge production and their versatility, they can be used in environmental application like treatment of domestic and industrial wastewater. They can use large variety of organic compounds as electron donor using sulphate as electron acceptor. However, low concentrations of sulphate can limit the performance of SRB in treating wastewater. In addition, heavy metal contamination in the environment is a serious issue for which untreated wastewater is a major source. Sulphide produced by sulphate reduction can remove heavy metals by precipitation. The toxic heavy metal such as Pb(II) and Hg(II) are removed by sulphate reduction. Some strains of SRB can use chloroethane as electron accepter, and sometimes they act as dehalogenating bacteria. Thus, SRB also has potential applications for the bioremediation of chlorinated organic compounds in wastewater. SRB based waste water treatment can be integrated with energy production contributing to an effective and green platform for the application of SRB in remediation. In this chapter, the ability of SRB for the remediation of domestic and industrial wastewater is discussed.
