Sulfate Reducing Bacteria Consortia A potentially effective technology for alleviating the toxicity of polyethylene microplastics on short-chain fatty acids production from waste activated sludge
This study demonstrated that PE-MP leachate progressively inhibited anaerobic sludge acidogenesis as the dosage increased, whereas SRB augmentation increased the tolerance of the system to this stress. At a leachate dosage of 100 mL, peak total SCFA production decreased by 71.9%, demonstrating that high leachate exposure substantially compromised the recovery of sludge carbon as SCFAs. At 25 mL, SRB augmentation increased peak total SCFA production by 25.4% and raised the IC50 from 38.5 to 44.2 mL, quantitatively confirming improved acidogenic performance under lower leachate stress. Physiological responses, metagenomic profiles, and the functional contributions of individual taxa collectively showed that the decline in SCFA production arose from concurrent impairment of substrate utilization and community functional capacity, rather than failure of a single terminal acid formation step.