Abstract
A partial removal of metallic mercury from air by fiber-based trickle-bed bioreactors was observed. Up to 50 to 65% of the inlet mercury concentrations of 35 to 70 μg/m 3 were removed by immobilized live Pseudomonas bacteria for up to 275 hours at a residence time of 1 min. Ninety to 125% of the adsorbed mercury was recovered by a direct assay after dismantling the bioreactors, thus confirming that the observed mercury removal was due to its adsorption by biomass rather than wet scrubbing followed by evaporation. However, mercury removal at a lower inlet concentration (23 μg/m 3) was negligible, with a poor material balance. The adsorbed mercury at higher inlet concentrations was not removed from the biomass by a 2-week washing after conclusion of the mercury adsorption experiment, which indicates a strong mercury binding by bacteria. The volatile organic compound removal efficiency was not affected by the presence of up to 70 μg/m 3 of metallic mercury in the air.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 291-298 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Bioremediation Journal |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1999 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors are immensely grateful to R. Schultz and G. Dunham (EERC) for conducting the assay of mercury in the air and maintenance of the set up, to C. Lillimoen and J. Sun (EERC) for conducting the mercury assay in solid/liquid samples, and to Drs. M. Yakimov and P. Golyshin (GBF, Braunschweig, Germany) for identifying the bacterial strain. Our special thanks to Dr. J.A. Newell (UND Chemical Engineering Department) for his terrific technical help throughout the project. The research was supported by the EERC Center for Air Toxic Metals Program sponsored by the USEPA under Assistance Agreements C R 821518, C R 823173, and R 824894. We also acknowledge the generous support of the National Science Foundation (REU Grant No. CHE-9619804) for M. Jacobson.