Characterization and Stimulation of Selenium Reducing Microbial Consortia from Real Flue Gas Desulfurization Wastewater Biological Treatment System
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE)
- NETL Site Support Contractor, National Energy Technology Laboratory
- Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
- NETL
Selenium is released into the environment via anthropogenic activities such as coal combustion. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Effluent Limitation Guideline (ELG) Rule limits the release of selenium species into U.S. waterways. To meet the ELG limit for selenium, coal-fired power plants must treat the wastewater produced by the flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems. Selenium removal is of interest because small changes of the concentrations of selenium in the environment can cause detrimental ecological consequences. Biological treatment is used to remediate this wastewater, but little is known about the individual species in the microbial consortium that reduce toxic water-soluble selenium oxyanions to insoluble elemental selenium. To optimize current biological treatment capabilities of this water, the selenium-reducing capabilities must be leveraged. In order to do so, the selenium-reducing bacteria (SeRB) in biological treatment systems must be characterized. This study will be the first to characterize the microbial consortia from a real FGD WW biological treatment system and provide insights on how to better achieve selenium removal via biological treatment. This work will provide insights into the microorganisms predominantly responsible for the reduction of selenium oxyanions in FGD wastewater biological treatment systems, which can be used to better optimize more efficient biological treatment strategies of this industrial waste.
- Research Organization:
- National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM); USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), Office of Resource Sustainability (FE-30)
- OSTI ID:
- 2998646
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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