Gaseous bacterial products of bacterial biodegradation of sewage

[Elite Engineer]

I'm doing research on the products of bacterial metabolism on human sewage. I can find plenty of articles on the specific bacteria that are used to breakdown human

 

sewage, but nothing on the specific products, particularly the gaseous products of this bacterial metabolism. If you know any journals, articles that have such info could

 

you please be kind and post it or msg me! Thx!

 

~EE

[StringJunky]

Checking out flatulence may give you some direction.

 

 

Physiology

 

Production, composition, and smell

 

Flatus (intestinal gas) is mostly produced as a byproduct of bacterial fermentation in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, especially the colon.^[7] There are reports of aerophagia (excessive air swallowing) causing excessive intestinal gas, but this is considered rare.^[8] Over 99% of the volume of flatus is composed of non-smelly gases.^[5] These include oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. Nitrogen is not produced in the gut, but a component of environmental air. Patients who have excessive intestinal gas that is mostly composed of nitrogen have aerophagia.^[9] Hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane are all produced in the gut and contribute 74% of the volume of flatus in normal subjects.^[10]Methane and hydrogen are flammable, and so flatus containing adequate amounts of these can be ignited.^[11] Not all humans produce flatus that contains methane. For example, in one study of the faeces of nine adults, only five of the samples contained archaea capable of producing methane.^[12] The prevalence of methane over hydrogen in human farts may correlate with obesity, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome, as archaea which oxidise hydrogen into methane promote the metabolism's ability to absorb fatty acids from food.^[13]

 

The remaining trace (<1% volume) compounds give flatus its smell. Historically, compounds such as indole, skatole, ammonia and short chain fatty acids were thought to cause the smell of flatus. More recent evidence proves that the major contribution to the smell of flatus comes from a combination of volatile sulfur compounds (VSC).^[5][14] It is known that hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), methyl mercaptan, MM (also known as methanethiol, MT), dimethyl sulfide (DMS), dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) and dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) are present in flatus. The benzopyrrole volatiles indole and skatole have a mothball smell, and therefore probably do not contribute greatly to the characteristic smell of flatus..

 

[CharonY]

Well, if you mean bacteria in general, that is very broad. If you mean specifically wastewater, it depends on the precise condition (e.g. aerobic portion, anaerobic, effluent, sludge, type of sewage etc.).

 

Basically bacteria are capable to produce all compounds of biological origin, including gases such as O2, CO2, CH4, C2H4, H2S, N2, H2 and so on. You would really need to lock down on specifics if you want to know what could be happening at any given point.

[Elite Engineer]

 

Checking out flatulence may give you some direction.

 

 

I'm more so looking into bacteria that breakdown human waste/ sewage..after it leaves the body.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Elite Engineer

[John Cuthber]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewer_gas

[PhilGeis]

Have you never heard of google scholar? There are relevant reports - e.g. http://www.env.go.jp/en/air/odor/eastasia_ws/2-2-5.pdf.