Palygorskite changes heavy metal bioavailability and microbial functional diversity in sewage sludge composting

To investigate the effects of palygorskite on chemical forms of heavy metal and microbial functional diversity in the sewage sludge composting, a compost matrix of sewage sludge, wheat straw and varying contents of palygorskite were inoculated with the compound microbial preparation. The chemical speciation analysis by a Community Bureau of Reference-sequential extraction indicated the contribution of palygorskite to reduce the bioavailability of a model metal, Cu, during the composting process. The Biolog EcoPlate(TM) test revealed that the microbial community showed better capability of utilizing complex macro-molecules (such as miscellaneous and polymers) in the presence of palygorskite. Increasing the palygorskite contents from 1% to 5%, the microbial activity showed an increasing tendency. However, continuously increasing the palygorskite resulted in a decline of the microbial metabolism. Therefore, appropriate content of palygorskite is an ideal additive for composting, not only enhancing the microbial activity, but also reducing the metal toxicity.