science

sciencePergamonPII:S0043-135~97)00144-9Wat.Res.Vol.31,No.I1,pp.2771-2774,1997©1997ElsevierScienceLtd.AllrightsreservedPrintedinGreatBritain0043-1354/97$17.00+0.00EFFECTOFFREEPHOSPHINEONANAEROBICDIGESTIONF.EISMANN~*,D.GLINDEMANN~,A.BERGMANN~andP.KUSCHK2tUniversityofLeipzig,InstituteforAnimalHygieneandVeterinaryPublicHealth,Semmelweisstrasse4,D-04103Leipzig,Germanyand2CentreforEnvironmentalResearchLeipzig-HalleLtd,Permoserstrasse15,D-04318Leipzig,Germany(ReceivedNovember1996;acceptedinrevisedformApril1997)Abstract---Gaseousphosphinewasfoundtoinhibitbiogasformationduringtheanaerobicfermentationofswinemanure.Alogarithmicdose-responsecorrelationwasobtainedwith50%inhibitionataphosphineconcentrationofapproximately150ppm.Anaerobicfermentationofacetateandyeastextractmeasuredbybiogasformationwerenotaffectedatconcentrationsupto1000ppm.Despitetherelativetoleranceofanaerobicbacteria,phosphinemayobviouslyinhibitthedegradationofmanureconstituents.©1997ElsevierScienceLtdKeywords--phosphine,toxicity,ma