Toxicity effects on metal sequestration by microbially-induced carbonate precipitation.

Biological precipitation of metallic contaminants has been explored as a remedial technology for contaminated groundwater systems. However, metal toxicity and availability limit the activity and remedial potential of bacteria. We report the ability of a bacterium, Sporosarcina pasteurii, to remove metals in aerobic aqueous systems through carbonate formation. Its ability to survive and grow in increasingly concentrated aqueous solutions of zinc, cadmium, lead and copper is explored, with and without a metal precipitation mechanism. In the presence of metal ions alone, bacterial growth was inhibited at a range of concentrations depending on the metal. Microbial activity in a urea-amended medium caused carbonate ion generation and pH elevation, providing conditions suitable for calcium carbonate bioprecipitation, and consequent removal of metal ions. Elevation of pH and calcium precipitation are shown to be strongly linked to removal of zinc and cadmium, but only partially linked to removal of lead and copper. The dependence of these effects on interactions between the respective metal and precipitated calcium carbonate are discussed. Finally, it is shown that the bacterium operates at higher metal concentrations in the presence of the urea-amended medium, suggesting that the metal removal mechanism offers a defence against metal toxicity.

Enhanced biodegradation of pentachlorophenol in unsaturated soil using reversed field electrokinetics.

This study investigated the use of electrokinetics in unsaturated soil to promote biodegradation of pentachlorophenol through increased contact between bacteria and contaminant. Soil microcosms, contaminated with approximately 100 mg kg(-1) pentachlorophenol (containing [(14)C]-PCP as a tracer), and inoculated with a specific pentachlorophenol-degrading bacterium (Sphingobium sp. UG30-1 x 10(8) cfu g(-1)) were subjected to constant and regularly reversed electric currents (10 mA). The former caused large pH and moisture content changes due to water electrolysis and electroosmotic effects, with subsequent negative impacts on biodegradation parameters including enzyme activity and contaminant mineralisation (as measured by (14)CO(2) evolution rate). The reversed field caused little change in pH and moisture content and led to more rapid contaminant mineralisation, lower soil contaminant concentration in the majority of the microcosms and increased soil enzyme activity (with the exception of soil immediately adjacent to the anode). The presence of an electric field, if suitably applied, may therefore enhance contaminant biodegradation in unsaturated soil.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the effect of zeolite on lithium uptake in poplar.

The use of a zeolite (clinoptilolite) to protect poplar plants from lithium-contaminated soil has been studied using magnetic resonance imaging. Lithium was used as a model contaminant as it could be tracked directly using specific nuclear magnetic resonance probes, rather than relying on relaxation time effects on protons due to paramagnetic solutes. The sorption of lithium to the zeolite was investigated both in static and dynamic systems; lithium was found to sorb readily to the zeolite over time. Poplar plants were grown in soil microcosms consisting of either sand or sand and zeolite with nutrients provided through the use of Hoagland's solution as the pore fluid. Both one-dimensional profiles of lithium concentration along poplar stems and direct lithium imaging of stem cross-sections were employed to reveal the uptake of the contaminant into the plant structure, showing significantly less lithium present in plants grown in sand and zeolite than those grown in sand alone. Evidence of structural features involved in the uptake of lithium was also obtained.