Characterization of Microbial Communities Removing Nitrogen Oxides from Flue Gas: the BioDeNOx Process

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Abstract
BioDeNOx is an integrated physicochemical and biological process for the removal of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from flue gases. In this process, the flue gas is purged through a scrubber containing a solution of Fe(II)EDTA2−, which binds the NOx to form an Fe(II)EDTA·NO2−complex. Subsequently, this complex is reduced in the bioreactor to dinitrogen by microbial denitrification. Fe(II)EDTA2−, which is oxidized to Fe(III)EDTA−by oxygen in the flue gas, is regenerated by microbial iron reduction. In this study, the microbial communities of both lab- and pilot-scale reactors were studied using culture-dependent and -independent approaches. A pure bacterial strain, KT-1, closely affiliated by 16S rRNA analysis to the gram-positive denitrifying bacteriumBacillus azotoformans, was obtained. DNA-DNA homology of the isolate with the type strain was 89%, indicating that strain KT-1 belongs to the speciesB. azotoformans. Strain KT-1 reduces Fe(II)EDTA·NO2−complex to N2using ethanol, acetate, and Fe(II)EDTA2−as electron donors. It does not reduce Fe(III)EDTA−. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments showed the presence of bacteria closely affiliated with members of the phylumDeferribacteres, an Fe(III)-reducing group of bacteria. Fluorescent in situ hybridization with oligonucleotide probes designed for strain KT-1 and members of the phylumDeferribacteresshowed that the latter were more dominant in both reactors.

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