Direct interspecies electron transfer enables anaerobic oxidation of sulfide to elemental sulfur coupled with CO(2)-reducing methanogenesis

Electric syntrophy between fatty acid oxidizers and methanogens through direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) is essential for balancing acidogenesis and methanogenesis in anaerobic digestion. Promoting DIET using electrically conductive additives proved effective in enhancing methanogenesis; however, its possibility to affect other microbial redox reactions in methanogenic systems has been little studied. This study provides the first confirmation of the electro-syntrophic coupling of sulfide oxidation to S(0) with CO(2)-reducing methanogenesis in sulfur-rich methanogenic cultures supplemented with conductive magnetite (100–700-nm particle size). The H(2)S content in biogas, initially exceeding 5000 ppmv, decreased to below 1 ppmv along with an accumulation of extracellular S(0) (60–70 mg/L; initially <1 mg/L) at a magnetite dose of 20 mM Fe, while there were no significant changes in methane yield. A comprehensive polyphasic approach demonstrated that the S(0) formation occurs through electro-syntrophic oxidation of sulfide coupled with CO(2)-reducing methanogenesis, involving Methanothrix as the dominant methanogen.