General Information: Obligately chemolithoautotrophic, haloalkaliphilic, mesophilic, microaerophilic and sulfur-oxidizing bacterium. Uses CO2 as a carbon source and reduced inorganic sulfur compounds as an energy source. Utilizes ammonium and urea, but not nitrate or nitrite, as a N-source. Isolated from a full-scale Thiopaq bioreactor in the Netherlands used to remove H2S from biogas. Thioalkalivibrio species are commonly isolated from soda lakes and tend to dominate the microbial community of hypersaline soda lakes. These organisms have a pH optimum of 10 and are able to oxidize hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur. Thioalkalivibrio species have also been isolated from sulfide oxidizing bioreactors which remove sulfide from refinery and natural gas.