In Vitro Study of Butyric Acid Deodorization Potential by Indigenously Constructed Bacterial Consortia and Pure Cultures from Pit Latrine Fecal Sludge

John Bright Joseph Njalam’mano, Evans Martin Nkhalambayausi Chirwa and Refilwe Lesego Seabi
Additional contact information
John Bright Joseph Njalam’mano: Water Utilisation and Environmental Engineering Division, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa
Evans Martin Nkhalambayausi Chirwa: Water Utilisation and Environmental Engineering Division, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa
Refilwe Lesego Seabi: Water Utilisation and Environmental Engineering Division, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-18

Abstract: The present study aims at developing an efficient bacterial consortium to biodegrade butyric acid, one of the odor-causing compounds that contribute significantly to pit latrine malodors. Six bacterial strains isolated from pit latrine fecal sludge were selected for the study. Nineteen bacterial consortia of different combinations were artificially constructed. The individual bacterial strains and bacterial consortia were compared by culturing in mineral salt medium supplemented with 1000 mg/L butyric acid as a sole carbon and energy source at pH 7, 30 °C, and 110 rpm under aerobic growth conditions. A co-culture of Serratia marcescens and Bacillus cereus was an effective bacterial consortium compared to individual component bacterial strains and other bacterial consortia, in which 1000 mg/L butyric acid was completely degraded within 16 h of incubation. A temperature of 30 °C and pH 7 were found to be optimum for the maximum degradation for both S. marcescens and B. cereus . The inoculation sizes of 2.0 and 2.5 were optimal for the maximum degradation for B. cereus and S. marcescens , respectively. The study provides insights that will be of substantial help in the development of effective biological treatment technologies for pit latrine odor to change the pit latrine user community’s and would be users’ perception of pit latrines.

Keywords: Bacillus cereus; bacterial consortia; biodegradation; odor-causing compounds; sanitation; Serratia marcescens (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5156/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5156/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5156-:d:375729

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().