Enhanced remediation of wastewater impacted by acid mine drainage at low temperature using sulfate-reducing bacteria immobilized in biomass-amended PVA-SA beads.

Immobilized sulfate-reducing bacteria in biomass-amended PVA-SA beads achieve 98.5% sulfate removal at 12°C in AMD-impacted wastewater.

• Why it matters: Cold climates hinder conventional bioremediation due to low temperatures limiting bacterial activity, creating a need for effective methods to treat AMD in such conditions.
• What they did: Researchers enriched and acclimated indigenous Desulfovibrio consortia from AMD sediments, confirmed cold-adaptation genes, and immobilized them in PVA-SA beads with pretreated corn straw, testing sulfate removal efficiency.
• The result: The immobilized bacteria maintained high sulfate removal efficiency in synthetic wastewater at 12°C, transforming sulfate and heavy metals into stable phases, enabling practical AMD remediation in cold environments.