Skip to main content
Log in

Purple non-sulfur bacteria technology: a promising and potential approach for wastewater treatment and bioresources recovery

  • Review
  • Published:
World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Shortage of water, energy, and bioresources in the world has led to the exploration of new technologies that achieve resource recovery from wastewater, which has become a new sustainable trend. Photosynthetic non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB), the most ancient photo microorganism, not only treats different wastewater types, but also generates PNSB cells, which are non-toxic bioresources and containing many value-added products. These bioresources can be used as raw materials in the agricultural, food, and medical industries. Therefore, PNSB or PNSB-based wastewater resource recovery technology can be simultaneously used to treat wastewater and produce useful bioresources. Compared with traditional wastewater treatment, this technology can reduce CO2 emissions, promote the N recovery ratio and prevent residual sludge disposal or generation. After being developed for over half a century, PNSB wastewater resource recovery technology is currently extended towards industrial applications. Here, this technology is comprehensively introduced in terms of (1) PNSB characteristics and metabolism; (2) PNSB wastewater treatment and bioresource recovery efficiency; (3) the relative factors influencing the performance of this technology, including light, oxygen, strains, wastewater types, hydraulic retention time, on wastewater treatment, and resource production; (4) PNSB value-added bioresources and their generation from wastewater; (5) the scale-up history of PNSB technology; (6) Finally, the future perspectives and challenges of this technology were also analysed and summarised.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

No data transparency.

References

  • Alloul A, Wuyts S, Lebeer S, Vlaeminck SE (2019) Volatile fatty acids impacting phototrophic growth kinetics of purple bacteria: paving the way for protein production on fermented wastewater. Water Res 152:138–147

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Azad SA, Vikineswary S, Chong VC, Ramachandran KB (2004) Rhodovulum sulfidophilum in the treatment and utilization of sardine processing wastewater. Let Appl Microbiol 38:13–18

  • Blankenship RE, Madigan MT, Bauer CE (1995) Anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Carlozzi P, Sacchi A (2001) Biomass production and studies on Rhodopseudomonas palustris grown in an outdoor, temperature controlled, underwater tubular photobioreactor. J Biotechnol 88:239–249

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chiemchaisri C, Jaitrong L, Honda R, Fukushi K, Yamamoto K (2007) Photosynthetic bacteria pond system with infra-red transmitting filter for the treatment and recovery of organic carbon from industrial wastewater. Water Sci Technol 56:109–118

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chitapornpan S, Chiemchaisri C, Chiemchaisri W, Honda R, Yamamoto K (2013) Organic carbon recovery and photosynthetic bacteria population in an anaerobic membrane photo-bioreactor treating food processing wastewater. Bioresour Technol 141:65–74

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Getha K, Vikineswary S, Chong VC (1998) Isolation and growth of the phototrophic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris strain B1 in sago-starch-processing wastewater. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 14:505–511

  • Giotta L, Agostiano A, Italiano F, Milano F, Trotta M (2006) Heavy metal ion influence on the photosynthetic growth of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Chemosphere 62:1490–1499

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hao X, Batstone D, Guest J (2015) Carbon neutrality: an ultimate goal towards sustainable wastewater treatment plants. Water Res 87:413–415

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hassan MA, Shirai Y, Kusubayashi N, Karim MIA, Nakanishi K, Hashimoto K (1997a) The production of polyhydroxyalkanoate from anaerobically palm oil mill effluent by Rhodobacter sphaeroides. J Fermen Bioeng 83:485–488

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hassan MA, Shirai Y, Kusubayashi N, Karim MIA, Nakanishi K, Hashimoto K (1997b) Effect of organic acid profiles during anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent on the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates by Rhodobacter sphaeroides. J Fermen Bioeng 82:151–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassan MA, Shirai Y, Kubota A, Karim MIA, Nakanishi K, Hashimoto K (1998) Effect of oligosaccharides on glucose consumption by Rhodobacter sphaeroides in polyhydroxyalkanoate production from enzymatically treated crude sago starch. J Fermen Bioeng 86:57–61

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hiraishi A, Shi J, Hiroshi K (1989) Effects of organic nutrient strength on the purple nonsulfur bacterial content and metabolic activity of photosynthetic sludge for wastewater treatment. J Fermen Bioeng 68:269–276

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Honda R, Fukushi K, Yamamoto K (2006) Optimization of wastewater feeding for single-cell protein production in an anaerobic wastewater treatment process utilizing purple non-sulfur bacteria in mixed culture condition. J Biotechnol 125:565–573

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • https://www.deep-purple.eu/

  • http://www.fao.org/3/a-bl496e.pdf

  • Hülsen T, Barry EM, Lu Y, Puyol D, Batstone DJ (2016) Low temperature treatment of domestic wastewater by purple phototrophic bacteria: performance, activity, and community. Water Res 100:537–545

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hülsen T, Hsieh K, Lu Y, Tait S, Batstone DJ (2018a) Simultaneous treatment and single cell protein production from agri-industrial wastewaters using purple phototrophic bacteria or microalgae - a comparison. Bioresour Technol 254:214–223

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hülsen T, Hsieh K, Tait S, Barry EM, Puyol D, Batstone DJ (2018b) White and infrared light continuous photobioreactors for resource recovery from poultry processing wastewater: a comparison. Water Res 144:665–676

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter CN, Daldal F, Thurnauer MC, Beatty JT (2008) The purple photosynthetic bacteria. Springer, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Izu K, Nakajima F, Yamamoto K, Kurisu F (2001) Aeration conditions affecting growth of purple nonsulfur bacteria in an organic wastewater treatment process. Syst Appl Microbiol 24:294–302

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Judd S, van den Broeke LJP, Shurair M, Kuti Y, Znad H (2015) Algal remediation of CO2 and nutrient discharges: a review. Water Res 87:356–366

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kaewsuk J, Thorasampan W, Thanuttamavong M, Seo GT (2010) Kinetic development and evaluation of membrane sequencing batch reactor (MSBR) with mixed cultures photosynthetic bacteria for dairy wastewater treatment. J Environ Manage 91:1161–1168

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kornochalert N, Kantachote D, Chaiprapat S, Techkarnjanaruk S (2014) Use of Rhodopseudomonas palustris P1 stimulated growth by fermented pineapple extract to treat latex rubber sheet wastewater to obtain single cell protein. Ann Microbiol 64:1021–1032

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu B, Chen B (2016) Environmental data handbook 2015. Total pollutant emission control division ministry of environmental protection and China National Environmental Monitoring Centre. Ministration of Environmental Protection of the Peoples’ Republic of China. Beijing, 2016

  • Liu S, Li X, Zhang G, Zhang J (2015a) Effect of magnesium ion on crt gene expression in improving carotenoid yield of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Arch Microbiol 197:1101–1108

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Zhang G, Zhang J (2015b) Optimization of influencing factors on biomass accumulation and 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) yield in Rhodobacter sphaeroides wastewater treatment. J Microbiol Biotechnol 25:1920–1927

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Zhang G, Li X, Wu P, Zhang J (2015c) Enhancement of Rhodobacter sphaeroides growth and carotenoid production through biostimulation. J Environ Sci 33:21–28

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Zhang G, Li J, Li X, Zhang J (2016) Optimization of biomass and 5-aminolevulinic acid production by Rhodobacter sphaeroides ATCC17023 via response surface methodology. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 179:444–458

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Zheng Z, Tie J, Kang J, Zhang G, Zhang J (2018) Impacts of Fe2+ on 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) biosynthesis of Rhodobacter sphaeroides in wastewater treatment by regulating nif gene expression. J Environ Sci 70:11–19

  • Lorrungruang C, Martthong J, Sasaki K, Noparatnaraporn N (2006) Selection of photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides 14F for polyhydroxyalkanoate production with two-stage aerobic dark cultivation. J Biosci Bioeng 102:128–131

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lu H, Zhang G, Dong S (2011) Quantitative study of PNSB energy metabolism in degrading pollutants under weak light-micro oxygen condition. Bioresour Technol 102:4968–4973

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lu H, Zhang G, Dai X, Schideman L, Zhang Y, Li B, Wang H (2013) A novel wastewater treatment and biomass cultivation system combining photosynthetic bacteria and membrane bioreactor technology. Desalination 322:176–181

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lu H, Zhang G, Lu Y, Zhang Y, Li B, Cao W (2016) Using co-metabolism to accelerate synthetic starch wastewater degradation and nutrient recovery in photosynthetic bacterial wastewater treatment technology. Environ Technol 37:775–784

  • Lu L, Guest JS, Peters CA, Zhu X, Rau GH, Ren JZ (2018a) Wastewater treatment for carbon capture and utilization. Nat Sustain 1:750–758

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu H, Han T, Zhang G, Ma S, Zhang Y, Li B, Cao W (2018b) Natural light-micro aerobic condition for PSB wastewater treatment: a flexible, simple, and effective resource recovery wastewater treatment process. Environ Technol 39:74–82

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lu H, Peng M, Zhang G, Li B, Li Y (2019) Brewery wastewater treatment and resource recovery through long term continuous-mode operation in pilot photosynthetic bacteria-membrane bioreactor. Sci Total Environ 646:196–205

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marin D, Posadas E, Garcia D, Puyol D, Lebrero R, Mũnoz R (2019) Assessing the potential of purple phototrophic bacteria for the simultaneous treatment of piggery wastewater and upgrading of biogas. Bioresour Technol 281:10–17

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meng F, Yang A, Zhang G, Wang H (2017) Effects of dissolved oxygen concentration on photosynthetic bacteria wastewater treatment: pollutants removal, cell growth and pigments production. Bioresour Technol 241:993–997

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meng F, Yang A, Wang H, Zhang G, Li X, Zhang Y, Zou Z (2018a) One-step treatment and resource recovery of high-concentration non-toxic organic wastewater by photosynthetic bacteria. Bioresour Technol 251:121–127

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meng F, Yang A, Zhang G, Zhang P, Ye J (2018b) Benchmark study of photosynthetic bacteria bio-conversion of wastewater: carbon source range, fundamental kinetics of substrate degradation and cell proliferation. Bioresour Technol Rep 1:31–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagadomi H, Kitamura T, Watanabe M, Sasaki K (2000) Simultaneous removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), phosphate, nitrate and H2S in the synthetic sewage wastewater using porous ceramic immobilized photosynthetic bacteria. Biotechnol Lett 22:1369–1374

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nunkaew T, Kantachote D, Chaiprapat S, Nitoda T, Kanzaki H (2018) Use of wood vinegar to enhance 5-aminolevulinic acid production by selected Rhodopseudomonas palustris in rubber sheet wastewater for agricultural use. Saudi J Biol Sci 25:642–650

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peyman D, Dang H, George N, Domenico S (2019) Low temperature nutrient removal from municipal wastewater by purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB). Bioresour Technol 288:121566

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ponsano EHG, Lacava PM, Pinto MF (2003) Chemical composition of Rhodocyclus gelatinosus biomass produced in poultry slaughterhouse wastewater. Braz Arch Biol Technol 46:143–147

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Prachanurak P, Chiemchaisri C, Chiemchaisri W, Yamamotob K (2014) Biomass production from fermented starch wastewater in photo-bioreactor with internal overflow recirculation. Bioresour Technol 165:129–136

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Qin L, Liu Q, Meng Q, Fan Z, He J, Liu T, Shen C, Zhang G (2017) Anoxic oscillating MBR for photosynthetic bacteria harvesting and high salinity wastewater treatment. Bioresour Technol 224:69–77

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez-Perez S, Serrano A, Pantion AA, Alonso-Farinas B (2018) Challenges of scaling-up PHA production from waste streams. A review. J Environ Manage 205:215–230

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saejung C, Ampornpat W (2019) Production and nutritional performance of carotenoid producing photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas faecalis PA2 grown in domestic wastewater intended for animal feed production. Waste Biomass Valor 10:299–310

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sakarika M, Spanoghe J, Sui Y, Wambacq E, Grunert O, Haesaert G, Spiller M, Vlaeminck SE (2019) Purple non-sulphur bacteria and plant production: benefifits for fertilization, stress resistance and the environment. Microb Biotechnol 13:1336–1365

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sasaki K, Watanabe M, Suda Y, Ishizuka A, Noparatnaraporn N (2005) Applications of photosynthetic bacteria for medical fields. J Biosci Bioeng 100:481–488

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sasikala C, Ramana CV, Rao PR (1994) 5-Aminolevulinic acid: a potential herbicide/insecticide from microorganisms. Biotechnol Progress 10:451–459

  • Vegliò F, Esposito A, Reverberi AP (2003) Standardisation of heavy metal biosorption tests: equilibrium and modelling study. Process Biochem 38:953–961

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang X, Wang Y, Cheng X, Sun D, Ren Y, Xu G (2015a) Formation characteristics of an anoxygenic photosynthetic bacterial biofilm in a photorotating biological contactor for azo dye wastewater treatment. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 90:176–184

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang DB, Zeng GM, Chen YG, Li XM (2015b) Effect of polyhydroxyalkanoates on dark fermentative hydrogen production from waste activated sludge. Water Res 73:311–322

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang H, Yang A, Zhang G, Ma B, Meng F, Peng M (2017) Enhancement of carotenoid and bacteriochlorophyll by high salinity stress in photosynthetic bacteria. Int Biodeter Biodegr 121:91–96

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilfert P, Dugulan AI, Goubitz K, Korving L, Witkamp GJ, Van Loosdrecht MCM (2018) Vivianite as the main phosphate mineral in digested sewage sludge and its role for phosphate recovery. Water Res 144:312–321

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wu P, Zhang G, Li J, Lu H, Zhao W (2012) Effects of Fe2+ concentration on biomass accumulation and energy metabolism in photosynthetic bacteria wastewater treatment. Bioresour Technol 119:55–59

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wu P, Zhang G, Li J (2015) Mg2+ improves biomass production from soybean wastewater using purple non-sulfur bacteria. J Environ Sci 28:43–46

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang A, Zhang G, Meng F, Zhang P, Chen Y (2018a) Membrane concentrate treatment by photosynthetic bacteria: feasibility and tolerance mechanism analysis. Bioresour Technol 253:378–381

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yang A, Peng M, Zhang G, Meng F, Zhang Y, Zou Z (2018b) Effects of light-oxygen conditions on microbial community of photosynthetic bacteria during treating high-ammonia wastewater. Process Biochem 72:137–142

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yen H, Shih T (2009) Coenzyme Q10 production by Rhodobacter sphaeroides in stirred tank and in airlift bioreactor. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 32:711–716

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhi R, Yang A, Zhang G, Zhu Y, Meng F, Li X (2019) Effects of light-dark cycles on photosynthetic bacteria wastewater treatment and valuable substances production. Bioresour Technol 274:496–501

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Q, Zhang P, Zhang G (2014) Biomass and carotenoid production in photosynthetic bacteria wastewater treatment: effects of light intensity. Bioresour Technol 171:330–335

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Q, Zhang G, Zheng X, Liu G (2015a) Biological treatment of high NH4+-N wastewater using an ammonia-tolerant photosynthetic bacteria strain (ISASWR2014). Chinese J Chem Eng 23:1712–1715

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Q, Zhang P, Zhang G (2015b) Biomass and pigments production in photosynthetic bacteria wastewater treatment: effects of light sources. Bioresour Technol 179:505–509

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Q, Zhang P, Zhang G, Peng M (2015c) Biomass and pigments production in photosynthetic bacteria wastewater treatment: effect of photoperiod. Bioresour Technol 190:196–200

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Q, Zhang G, Lu Y, Wu P (2016) Feasibility study and process optimization of citric acid wastewater treatment and biomass production by photosynthetic bacteria. Deslin Water Treat 57:6261–6267

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Y, Lu W, Ye L, Chen Z, Hu W, Wang C, Che J, Yu H (2017a) Enhanced synthesis of coenzyme Q 10 by reducing the competitive production of carotenoids in Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Biochem Eng J 125:50–55

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Y, Ye L, Chen Z, Hu W, Shi Y, Chen J, Wang C, Li Y, Li W, Yu H (2017b) Synergic regulation of redox potential and oxygen uptake to enhance production of coenzyme Q10 in Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Enzyme Microb Technol 101:36–43

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by National Scientific Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52070067 and 518611255103) and Open Project of Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, CAS (Grant No. kf2020013).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

HL, writing and editing the draft. Drawing Figures, calculating, analyzing and summarizing the data of wastewater treatment and biomass production. GZ, providing financial support, revising the draft and providing the guidelines of the draft. SH, summarizing the data of value added products of PNSB from wastewater treatment processing and making table 3. RZ, summarizing the data of value added products of PNSB from wastewater treatment processing. DZ, providing market and application analysis.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guangming Zhang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 17.1 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lu, H., Zhang, G., He, S. et al. Purple non-sulfur bacteria technology: a promising and potential approach for wastewater treatment and bioresources recovery. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 37, 161 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-021-03133-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-021-03133-z

Keywords

Navigation