• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.552-559
• /
• 1997

Fe (III) impurities in clay could be microbially removed by inhabitant dissimilatory Fe (III) reducing microorganisms. Insoluble Fe (III) in clay particles was leached out as soluble reductive form, Fe (II). The microorganisms removed from 10 to 45% of the initial Fe (III) when each sugar was supplemented to be in ranges of 1 - 5 % (w/w; sugar/clay). The microorganisms reduced 2.1 - 12.8 mol of Fe (III) per 100 mol of carbon in sugars metabolized when sugars such as glucose, maltose, and sucrose were used as sole carbon source. Bacillus sp. IRB-W and Pseudomonas sp. IRB-Y were isolated from the enrichment culture of the clay. The isolates were considered to participate in metabolizing organic compounds to fermentative intermediates with relatively little Fe (III) reduction at initial Fe (III) reduction process. By the microbial treatment, the whiteness of the clay was increased form 63.20 to 79.64, whereas the redness was obviously decreased form 13.47 to 3.55. This treatment did not cause any unfavorable modifications in mineralogical compositions of the clay.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.175-180
• /
• 2003

Microbial Fe(III) reduction is an important factor for biogeochemical cycle in anaerobic environments, especially sediment of freshwater such as lakes, ponds and rivers. In addition, the Fe(III) reduction serves as a model for potential mechanisms for the oxidation of organic compounds and the reduction of toxic heavy metals, such as chrome or uranium. Shewanella putrefaciens DK-1 was a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic Fe(III) reducer and used ferric ion as a terminal electron acceptor for the oxidation of organic compounds to $CO_{2}$ or other oxidized metabolites. The ability of reducing activity and utilization of various electron acceptors and donors for S. putrefaciens DK-1 were investigated. S. putrefaciens DK-1 was capable of using a wide variety of electron acceptor, including $NO_{3}^{-}$, Fe(III), AQDS, and Mn(IV). However, its ability to utilize electron donors was limited. Lactate and formate were used as electron donors but acetate and toluene were not used. Fe(III) reduction of S. putrefaciens DK-l was inhibited by the presence of either $NO_{3}^{-}$ or $NO_{2}^{-}$. Further S. putrefaciens DK-1 used humic acid as an electron acceptor and humic acid was re-oxidized by nitrate. Environmental samples showing the Fe(III)-reducing activity were used to investigate effects of the limiting factors such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus on the Fe(III) reducing bacteria. The highest Fe (III) reducing activity was measured, when lactate as a carbon source and S. putrefaciens DK-1 as an Fe(III) reducer added in untreated sediment samples of Cheon-ho and Dae-ho reservoirs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2002.04a
• /
• pp.250-253
• /
• 2002

Remediation of groundwater using zero valent iron filings has received considerable attention in recent years. However, zero valent iron is gradually transformed to iron(III) oxides at permeable reactive barriers, so the reduction of iron(III) oxides can enhance the longevity of the reactive barriers. In this study, microbial reduction of Fe(III) was performed in anaerobic condition. A medium contained nutrients similar to soil solution. The medium was autoclaved and deoxygenated by purging with 99.99% $N_2$ and pH was buffered to 6, while the temperature was regulated as 2$0^{\circ}C$. Activity of iron reducing bacteria were not affected by chlorinated organics but affected by iron(III) oxide. Although perchloroethylene(PCE) was not degraded with only ferric oxide, PCE was reduced to around 50% with ferric oxide and microorganism. It shows that reduced iron can dechlorinate PCE.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.431-439
• /
• 2014

The purposes of this research were to investigate the enrichment of metal-reducing bacteria from KURT groundwater and the identification of the microbial diversity by 16S rRNA as well as to examine microbial Fe(III)/Mn(IV) reduction and to analyze morphological features of interactions between microbes and precipitates and their mineralogical composition. To cultivate metal-reducing bacteria from groundwater sampled at the KURT in S. Korea, different electron donors such as glucose, acetate, lactate, formate, pyruvate and Fe(III)-citrate as an electron accepter were added into growth media. The enriched culture was identified by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis for the diversity of microbial species. The effect of electron donors (i.e., glucose, acetate, lactate, formate, pyruvate) and electron acceptors (i.e., akaganeite, manganese oxide) on microbial iron/manganese reduction and biomineralization were examined using the 1st enriched culture, respectively. SEM, EDX, and XRD analyses were used to determine morphological features, chemical composition of microbes and mineralogical characteristics of the iron and manganese minerals. Based on 16S rRNA gene analysis, the four species, Fusibacter, Desulfuromonas, Actinobacteria, Pseudomonas sp., from KURT groundwater were identified as anaerobic metal reducers and these microbes precipitated metals outside of cells in common. XRD and EDX analyses showed that Fe(III)-containing mineral, akaganeite (${\beta}$-FeOOH), reduced into Fe(II)/Fe(III)-containing magnetite ($Fe_3O_4$) and Mn(IV)-containing manganese oxide (${\lambda}-MnO_2$) into Mn(II)-containing rhodochrosite ($MnCO_3$) by the microbes. These results implicate that microbial metabolism and respiratory activities under anaerobic condition result in reduction and biomineralization of iron and manganese minerals. Therefore, the microbes cultivated from groundwater in KURT might play a major role to reduce various metals from highly toxic, mobile to less toxic, immobile.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.145-153
• /
• 2005

I reviewed an ecological and environmental significance of microbial carbon respiration coupled to dis-similatory reduction of fe(III) to Fe(II) which is one of the major processes controlling mineralization of organic matter and behavior of metals and nutrients in various anaerobic environments. Relative significance of Fe(III) reduction in the mineralization of organic matter in diverse marine environments appeared to be extremely variable, ranging from negligible up to $100\%$. Cenerally, Fe(III) reduction dominated anaerobic car-bon mineralization when concentrations of reactive Fe(III) were higher, indicating that availability of reactive Fe(III) was a major factor determining the relative significance of Fe(III) reduction in anaerobic carbon mineralization. In anaerobic coastal sediments where $O_2$ supply is limited, tidal flushing, bioturbation and vegetation were most likely responsible for regulating the availability of Fe(III) for Fe(III) reducing bacteria (FeRB). Capabilities of FeRB in mineralization of organic matter and conversion of metals implied that FeRB may function as a useful eco-technological tool for the bioremediation of anoxic coastal environments contaminated by toxic organic and metal pollutants.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.18 no.9
• /
• pp.1572-1577
• /
• 2008

A facultative dissimilatory metal-reducing bacterium, Shewanella sp. strain HN-41, was used to produce magnetite nanoparticles from a precursor, poorly crystalline iron-oxyhydroxide akaganeite ($\beta$-FeOOH), by reducing Fe(III). The diameter of the biogenic magnetite nanoparticles ranged from 26 nm to 38 nm, characterized by dynamic light scattering spectrophotometry. The magnetite nanoparticles consisted of mostly uniformly shaped spheres, which were identified by electron microscopy. The magnetometry revealed the superparamagnetic property of the magnetic nanoparticles. The atomic structure of the biogenic magnetite, which was determined by extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopic analysis, showed similar atomic structural parameters, such as atomic distances and coordinations, to typical magnetite mineral.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.253-258
• /
• 2023

In the environment, chromium often exists in a highly mobile and toxic form of Cr(VI). Therefore, the reduction of Cr(VI) to less toxic Cr(III) is considered an effective remediation strategy for Cr(VI)-contamination. In this study, the biological reduction of hexavalent chromium was examined at the concentrations of 0.01 mM, 0.1 mM, and 1 mM Cr(VI) by the dissimilatory metal-reducing bacterium, Shewanella sp. HN-41 in the presence of ferric-citrate. With the relatively condensed cell densities, the aqueous phase Cr(VI) was reduced at the proportions of 42%, 23%, and 31%, respectively for the 0.01 mM, 0.1 mM, and 1 mM Cr(VI) incubations, while Fe(III)-citrate was reduced at 95%, 88%, and 73%, respectively. Although the strain HN-41 was not considered to reduce Cr(VI) as the sole electron acceptor for anaerobic metabolism in the preliminary experiment, it has been presumed that outer-membrane c-type cytochromes such as MtrC and OmcA reduced Cr(VI) in the presence of ferric-citrate as the electron acceptor. Since this study indicated the potential of relatively high cell density for Cr(VI) reduction, it might propose a bioremediation strategy for Cr(VI) removal from contaminated waters using engineered systems such as bioreactors employing high cell growths.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.41-48
• /
• 2007

Zevo-valent iron (ZVI) has been widely used in permeable reactive barriers for reducing organic contaminants, such as trichloroethylene (TCE). The rapid reaction time, however, leads to decrease in reactivity and availability of ZVI. Shewanella algae BrY, a strain of dissimilatory iron reducing bacteria, can reduce the oxidized Fe (III) to Fe (II) and reduced Fe (II) can be reused to reduce the contaminant. The effect of Shewanella algae BrY on the reduction of the oxidized ZVI column and further TCE removal in the contaminated groundwater were studied at different flow rates and TCE input concentrations in this study. High input concentration of TCE and flow rate increase the amount of input contaminant and make to lower the effect of reduction by Shewanella algae BrY. Specially, the fast flow rate inhibits the direct contact and implantation on the surface of iron. The reduction of oxidized iron reactive barrier by Shewanella algae BrY can decrease the decreation of duration of PRBs by the precipitation of oxidized iron produced by dechlorination of TCE.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.16-24
• /
• 2014

To test the potential effects of extracellular electron shuttles (EES) on the rate and extent of heavy metal release from contaminated soils during microbial iron reduction, we created anaerobic batch systems with anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AQDS) as a surrogate of EES, and with contaminated soils as mixed iron (hydr)oxides and microbial sources. Two types of soils were tested: Zn-contaminated soil A and As/Pb-contaminated soil B. In soil A, the rate of iron reduction was fastest in the presence of AQDS and > 3500 mg/L of total Fe(II) was produced within 2 d. This suggests that indigenous microorganisms can utilize AQDS as EES to stimulate iron reduction. In the incubations with soil B, the rate and extent of iron reduction did not increase in the presence of AQDS likely because of the low pH (< 5.5). In addition, less than 2000 mg/L of total Fe(II) was produced in soil B within 52 d suggesting that iron reduction by subsurface microorganisms in soil B was not as effective as that in soil A. Relatively high amount of As (~500 mg/L) was released to the aqueous phase during microbial iron reduction in soil B. The release of As might be due to the reduction of As-associated iron (hydr)oxides and/or direct enzymatic reduction of As(V) to As(III) by As-reducing microorganisms. However, given that Pb in liquid phase was < 0.3 mg/L for the entire experiment, the microbial reduction As(V) to As(III) by As-reducing microorganisms has most likely occurred in this system. This study suggests that heavy metal release from contaminated soils can be strongly controlled by subsurface microorganisms, soil pH, presence of EES, and/or nature of heavy metals.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.19 no.4 s.50
• /
• pp.265-275
• /
• 2006

It is in its infancy to use bacteria as a novel biotechnology for leaching precious and heavy metals from raw materials. The objective of this study was to investigate biogeochemical processes of iron leaching from magnetite reduction by iron-reducing bacteria isolated from intertidal flat sediments, southwestern part of Korea. Microbial leaching experiments were performed using commercial magnetite, Aldrich magnetite, in well-defined mediums with and without bacteria. Water soluble Fe production was determined by ICP analysis of bioleached samples in comparison to uninoculated controls, and the resulting precipitated solids were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The extent of iron leaching from magnetite in the aerobic conditions (Fe = 107 ppm) was higher than that in the anaerobic environments (Fe = 94 ppm). In the anaerobic conditions, Fe(III) in commercial magnetite was also reduced to Fe(II), but no secondary mineral phases were observed. Amorphous iron oxides formed in the medium under aerobic conditions where there was sufficient supply of oxygen from the atmosphere. SEM observation suggests that the reduction process involves dissolution-precipitation mechanisms as opposed to solid state conversion of magnetite to amorphous iron oxides. The ability of bacteria to leach soluble iron and precipitate amorphous iron oxides from crystalline magnetite could have significant implications for biogeochemical processes in sediments where Fe(III) in magnetite plays an important role in the largest pool of electron acceptor as well as the tool as a novel biotechnology for leaching precious and heavy metals from raw materials.