Microbially mediated phosphine emission

There is still a lot of controversy in literature concerning the question whether a biochemical system exists enabling micro-organisms to reduce phosphate to phosphine gas. The search for so-called 'de novo synthesised' phosphine is complicated by the fact that soils, slurries, sludges, etc., which are often used as inocula, usually contain matrix bound phosphine (MBP). Matrix bound phosphine is a general term used to indicate non-gaseous reduced phosphorus compounds that are transformed into phosphine gas upon reaction with bases or acids. A study was carried out to compare the different digestion methods, used to transform matrix bound phosphine into phosphine gas. It was demonstrated that caustic and acidic digestion methods should be used to measure the matrix bound phosphine of the inoculum prior to inoculation to avoid false positive results concerning de novo synthesis. This is especially true if anthropogenically influenced inocula possibly containing minute steel or aluminium particles are used. The comparative study on different digestion methods also revealed that the fraction of phosphorus in mild steel, converted to phosphine during acid corrosion depended on the temperature. Following these preliminary studies, anaerobic growth experiments were set up using different inocula and media to study the emission of phosphine gas. Phosphine was detected in the headspace gases and its quantity and timeframe of emission depended on the medium composition, suggesting microbially mediated formation of the gas. The amount of phosphine emitted during the growth experiments never exceeded the bound phosphine present in inocula, prior to inoculation. Hence, de novo synthesis of phosphine from phosphate could not be demonstrated. Yet, microbially mediated conversion to phosphine of hitherto unknown reduced phosphorus compounds in the inoculum was evidenced.