Sensitivity of anaerobic sludge biogranule to sulfur compounds

The effects of sulfide, sulfite and sulfate on the methanogenesis in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket process indicated that their relative toxicity towards degradation of total volatile fatty acid varied as SO42−-S>SO32−-S>S2−. The anaerobic biogranules' activity decreased by 50% when each gram of biomass came into contact with 32, 24 and 16 mg of S2−, SO32−-S and SO42−-S, respectively.