ANAE Anaerobic Effects

((sulfate or sulphate) near reduc*) in anae

This is one of the fields contained within the Environmental Fate superfield (ZENE). For more general information regarding Environmental Fate, see the Environmental Fate message field (ENEX).

Anaerobic microbial degradation of organic compounds occurs in the absence of oxygen and is an important degradation process in both natural environments and in waste treatment plants. The importance of anaerobic processes in the degradation of a particular substance is reported here. These include laboratory simulations of the natural processes occurring in flooded soils using flasks containing samples of the medium and radio-labelled substrate. The other important method uses anaerobic digestion tests which compare the production of methane and carbon dioxide by anaerobic microbes in a sludge sample with and without added test material. Methane production is at the end of the food chain process used by a wide range of anaerobic micro-organisms.