The Potency of Purple Sulphur Bacteria for In-Situ Sulphide Bioremediation in Water

Abstract

Abstract Sulphide is odorous water pollutants and is also toxic in the form of H2S. Generally, water with high sulphide content has a very low amount of dissolved oxygen. Purple sulphur bacteria can be used as in-situ waters bioremediation agents to overcome sulphide pollution, one of which comes from the decomposition of organic compounds. This study aimed to determine the potency of purple sulphur bacteria isolated from various water located in the Cibinong area, Bogor Regency in West Java Indonesia to remove sulphides. The Pfennig 2 media was used for culturing the isolate. In order to get a single colony of bacteria, isolation was carried out using multilevel dilution method under anaerobic conditions. From this study, seven isolates of purple sulphur bacteria could be isolated. All isolates were able to remove sulphide from the test medium with 6% and 12% of sulphide. The highest sulphide removal ability was found in CU1 isolate followed by L1 and L2. The growth of CU1 and L2 in Kali Item River water could be detected within 17 hours. Thus, CU1 and L2 isolate had the potency to be used as an in-situ bioremediation agent for sulphides in waters with low oxygen content because of its anaerobic nature suitable for such environment.