Microbial reduction of SO2 as a means of byproduct recovery from regenerable,dry scrubbing processes for flue gas desulfurization

A project is under way at the University of Tulsa to investigate the reduction of SO₂ to H₂S by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) in co-culture with mixed fermentative heterotrophs. We have previously demonstrated that SO₂ is completely reduced to H₂S (contact times of 1–2 s) in cultures in which no redox poising agents were required and glucose served as the ultimate source of carbon energy. We have proposed that such a microbial process could be coupled with a Claus reactor to recover elemental sulfur as a byproduct of regenerable, dry scrubbing processes for flue gas desulfurization. The development of this process concept has continued with a study of the use of molasses as a source of carbon and reduced nitrogen, identification of important non-SRB heterotrophs in process cultures, and the identification of the end products of carbohydrate fermentation that serve as carbon and energy sources for the SRB and identification of the end products of SRB metabolism.