Study on the effects of trace metal elements on methane oxidation efficiency of microbial community

Metal elements in the environment have a certain impact on key transformation processes in microbial metabolic pathways. In order to study the effect of trace metal elements on the metabolism of microorganisms, the methane-oxidizing bacterial communities were screened from nature, and four representative metal elements, Cu²⁺, Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Zn²⁺were selected. The methane oxidation laws of microbial communities under different mass concentration conditions were obtained through experiments. The research results showed that Cu²⁺and Fe²⁺ had a significant impact on the methane oxidation efficiency of bacterial communities. When the mass concentration of Cu²⁺ was 0.03 g/L, the bacterial communities achieved their best CH₄ degradation effect, with the highest CH₄ degradation amount reaching 33.43 mL within 6 days; compared with Cu²⁺, the effect of Fe²⁺ was more significant, with the increase of Fe²⁺ mass concentration (0-0.6 g/L), the methane oxidation efficiency of the microbial community was gradually enhanced, and the amount of CH₄ degradation could be significantly increased from 13.02 mL to 37.28 mL within 6 days; Mn²⁺ and Zn²⁺ had a weak effect on the methane degradation efficiency of the microbial communities. When the mass concentrations of the two ions were 0.003 and 0.010 g/L, respectively, they had the best promoting effect on the methane oxidation efficiency of microbial communities, and the methane oxidation ability was weakened by elevating or decreasing the concentrations.