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eISSN: 2083-5906
ISSN: 1230-1485
ISSN: 1230-1485
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Microbial Succession and Related Sulphur
Metabolism Pathways in the Treatment
of Oily Wastewater from Ships
1
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Polytechnic University, Shanghai 201209, China
2
Zhong An United Coal Chemical Co., Ltd., Huainan 232000, China
3
Shanghai Chimbusco Marine Bunker Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200080, China
Submission date: 2026-02-26
Final revision date: 2026-06-03
Acceptance date: 2026-06-27
Online publication date: 2026-08-13
Corresponding author
Jue Dai
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Polytechnic University, Shanghai 201209, China
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Polytechnic University, Shanghai 201209, China
Shuai Chen
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Polytechnic University, No 2360, Jinhai Rd, 201209, Shanghai, China
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Polytechnic University, No 2360, Jinhai Rd, 201209, Shanghai, China
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
The microbial succession in activated sludge for the treatment of oily wastewater from ships
was investigated by high-throughput sequencing of the 16s rRNA gene, and the microbial metabolic
pathways of sulphur were determined. Proteobacteria was the dominant phylum, with a relative
abundance of 57.2%-88.0%, and Thiobios and Thiobacillus played an important role in the associated
sulphur metabolism. Diversity and species differentiation analyses showed that sample A4 after 1 year
of domestication had the lowest species diversity. The species with large differences were Thiobios,
SM1A02, Thiobacillus, and Flavobacterium. Sulphite oxidation to sulphate occurs through the sulphite
oxidase (SO) pathway. Sulphur-oxidising bacteria such as Thiobios and Thiobacillus convert sulphite
into sulphate through the SO pathway using sulphite-oxidising enzymes. In addition, the sulphite
dehydrogenase and reverse heterogeneous sulphate reduction pathways were predicted. These pathways
may jointly participate in and regulate the sulphur cycle during the treatment process of oily wastewater
from ships. This paper systematically reveals the succession patterns of functional microorganisms
in the biological treatment of oily wastewater from ships and the key sulphur metabolic pathways,
providing a microbiological basis for optimising the biological treatment process of oily wastewater
from ships and enhancing the efficiency of sulphur metabolism.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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| eISSN: | 2083-5906 |
| ISSN: | 1230-1485 |
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