Direct interspecies electron transfer enables anaerobic oxidation of sulfide to elemental sulfur coupled with CO2-reducing methanogenesis

Abstract

Electric syntrophy between fatty acid oxidizers and methanogens through direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) is essential for balancing acidogenesis and methanogenesis in anaerobic digestion. Promoting DIET using electrically conductive additives proved effective in enhancing methanogenesis; however, its possibility to affect other microbial redox reactions in methanogenic systems has been little studied. This study provides the first confirmation of the electrosyntrophic coupling of sulfide oxidation to S0 with CO2-reducing methanogenesis in sulfur-rich methanogenic cultures supplemented with conductive magnetite (100-700-nm particle size). The H2S content in biogas, initially exceeding 5000 ppmv, decreased to below 1 ppmv along with an accumulation of extracellular S0 (60-70 mg/L; initially <1 mg/L) at a magnetite dose of 20 mM Fe, while there were no significant changes in methane yield. A comprehensive polyphasic approach demonstrated that the S0 formation occurs through electro-syntrophic oxidation of sulfide coupled with CO2-reducing methanogenesis, involving Methanothrix as the dominant methanogen.