skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Sustained bacterial reduction of Co[sup III]EDTA[sup [minus]] in the presence of competing geochemical oxidation during dynamic flow

Journal Article · · Environmental Science and Technology
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/es990245f· OSTI ID:5923996
; ;  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States). Environmental Sciences Div.

Radionuclides and metals can be mobilized by chelating agents typically present in low-level radioactive liquid wastes. [[sup 60]Co]EDTA in the form [sup 60]Co[sup III]EDTA[sup [minus]] represents a highly stable and mobile form of this radionuclide. By contract, the reduced form of this metal-ligand complex, [sup 60]Co[sup II]EDTA[sup 2[minus]], is much less stable and less mobile. There is an increasing awareness that dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria (DMRB) can be used to mediate redox transformations of metals and radionuclides whose stability and mobility are governed by their oxidation state. The authors conducted a series of column experiments to provide an improved understanding of Co[sup III]EDTA[sup [minus]] reduction by the facultative anaerobe Shewanella alga BrY (BrY). Experiments were conducted under growth conditions using lactate a carbon and energy source. They were able to demonstrate the sustained reduction of Co[sup III]EDTA[sup [minus]] in column flow experiments with the desired result that a less stable, less mobile product was formed. The amount of reduction varied directly with the fluid residence time in the columns. In the presence of a suitable mineral sorbent [Fe(OH)[sub 3]], Co-EDTA transport was delayed as a direct consequence of the bacterial reduction reaction. Even in the presence of a strong mineral oxidant the net reduction of Co[sup III]EDTA[sup [minus]] dominated the fate and transport of this species.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-96OR22464
OSTI ID:
5923996
Journal Information:
Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 33:17; ISSN 0013-936X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English