Premium
Selenium reduction by a denitrifying consortium
Author(s) -
Rege Mahesh A.,
Yonge David R.,
Mendoza Donaldo P.,
Petersen James N.,
BerededSamuel Yared,
Johnstone Donald L.,
Apel William A.,
Barnes Joni M.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0290(19990220)62:4<479::aid-bit11>3.0.co;2-g
Subject(s) - selenate , selenium , denitrifying bacteria , nitrate , nitrite , chemistry , environmental chemistry , denitrification , inorganic chemistry , nitrogen , organic chemistry
A denitrifying bacterial consortium obtained from the Pullman, Washington wastewater treatment facility was enriched under denitrifying conditions and its ability to reduce selenite and selenate was studied. Replicate experiments at two different experimental conditions were performed. All experiments were performed under electron‐acceptor limiting conditions, with acetate as the carbon source and nitrate the electron acceptor. In the first set of experiments, selenite was present, whereas, in the second set, selenate was added. A significant lag period of approximately 150 h was necessary before selenite or selenate reduction was observed. During this lag period, nitrate and nitrite use was observed. Once selenite or selenate reduction had started, nitrate and nitrite reduction was concomitant with selenium species reduction. Trace amounts of selenite were detected during the selenate reduction study. Analysis of the data indicates that, once selenium species reduction was induced, the rate of reduction was proportional to the selenium species concentration and to the biomass concentration. Furthermore, at similar biomass and contaminant concentrations, selenite reduction is approximately four times faster than selenate reduction. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 62: 479–484, 1999.