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

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

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.189-194
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• 2012

The consequences of microbe-mineral interaction often resulted in the chemical, structural modification, or both in the biologically induced mineral. It is inevitable to utilize the high powered resolution of electron microscopy to investigate the mechanism of biogenic mineral transformation at nano-scale. The applications of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) capable of electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) to the study of microbe-mineral interaction were demonstrated for two examples: 1) biogenic illite formation associated with structural Fe(III) reduction in nontronite by Fereducing bacteria; 2) siderite phase formation induced by microbial Fe(III) reduction in magnetite. In particular, quantification of the changes in Fe-oxidation state at nanoscale is essential to understand the dynamic modification of minerals resulted from microbial Fe reduction. The procedure of EELS acquisition and advantages of EELS techniques were discussed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.366-372
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• 2003

The production of microbiologically enriched cultures that degrade cis- 1,2-dichloroethylene(DCE) under anaerobic conditions was investigated. Among 80 environmental samples, 19 displayed significant degradation of $10{\mu}M$ cis-DCE during 1 month of anaerobic incubation, and one sediment sample collected at a landfill area (Nanji-do, Seoul, Korea) showed the greatest degradation ($94\%$). When this sediment culture was subcultured repeatedly, the ability to degrade cis-DCE gradually decreased. However, under Fe(III)-reducing conditions, cis-DCE degradation by the subculture was found to be maintained effectively. In the Fe(III)-reducing subculture, vinyl chloride (VC) was also degraded at the same extent as cis-DCE No accumulation of VC during the cis-DCE degradation was observed. Thus, Fe(III)-reducing microbes might be involved in the anaerobic degradation of the chlorinated ethenes. However, the subcultures established with Fe(III) could function even in the absence of Fe(III), showing that the degradation of cis-DCE and VC was not directly coupled with the Fe(III) reduction. Consequently, the two series of enrichment cultures could not be obtained that degrade both cis-DCE and VC in the presence or absence of Fe(III). Considering the lack of VC accumulation, both cultures reported herein may involve interesting mechanism(s) for the microbial remediation of environments contaminated with chlorinated ethenes. A number of fermentative reducers (microbes) which are known to reduce Fe(III) during their anaerobic growth are potential candidates involved in cir-DCE degradation in the presence and absence of Fe(III).

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.207.4-207
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• 2005

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 2005

In situ permeable reactive barrier (PRB) technologies have been proposed to reductively remove organic contaminants from the subsurface environment. The major reactive material, zero valent iron ($Fe^0$), is oxidized to ferrous iron or ferric iron in the barriers, resulting in the decreased reactivity. Iron-reducing bacteria can reduce ferric iron to ferrous iron and iron reduced by these bacteria can be applied to dechlorinate chlorinated organic contaminants. Iron reduction by iron reducing bacteria, Shewanella algae BrY, was observed both in aqueous and solid phase and the enhancement of TCE removal by reduced iron was examined in this study. S. algae BrY preferentially reduced Fe(III) in ferric citrate medium and secondly used Fe(III) on the surface of iron oxides as an electron acceptor. Reduced iron formed reactive materials such as green rust ferrihydrite, and biochemical precipitation. These reactive materials formed by the bacteria can enhance TCE removal rate and removal capacity of the reactive barrier in the field.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.441-441
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• 2005

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.413-426
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• 2009

The study was conducted to investigate the effects of indigenous bacteria on geochemical behavior of toxic heavy metals in contaminated paddy soil near an abandoned mine. The effects of sulfate amendment to stimulate microbial sulfate reduction on heavy metal behaviors were also investigated. Batch-type experiments were performed with lactate or glucose as a carbon source to activate indigenous bacteria in the soil under anaerobic condition for 100 days. Sulfate (250 mg/L) was artificially injected at 60 days after the onset of the experiments. In the case of glucose supply, solution pH increased from 4.8 to 7.6 while pH was maintained at 7~8 in the lactate solution. The initial low pH in the case of glucose supply likely resulted in the enhanced extraction of Fe and most heavy metals at the initial experimental period. Lactate supply exerted no significant difference on the amounts of dissolved Zn, Pb, Ni and Cu between microbial and abiotic control slurries; however, lower Zn, Pb and Ni and higher Cu concentrations were observed in the microbial slurries than in the controls when glucose supplied. Sulfate amendment led to dramatic decrease in dissolved Cr and maintenance of dissolved As, both of which had gradually increased over time till the sulfate injection. Black precipitates formed in solution after sulfate amendment, and violarite($Fe^{+2}{Ni^{+3}}_2S_4$) was found with XRD analysis in the microbial precipitates. Conceivably the mineral might be formed after Fe(III) reduction and microbial sulfate reduction with coprecipitation of heavy metal. The results suggested that heavy metals which can be readily extracted from contaminated paddy soils may be stabilized in soil formation by microbial sulfate reduction.

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

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.395-401
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• 2009

The smectite-illite (SI) reaction is a ubiquitous process in siliciclastic sedimentary environments. For the last 4 decades the importance of smectite to illite (S-I) reaction was described in research papers and reports, as the degree of the (S-I) reaction, termed "smectite illitization", is linked to the exploration of hydrocarbons, and geochemical/petrophysical indicators. The S-I transformation has been thought that the reaction, explained either by layer-by-layer mechanism in the solid state or dissolution/reprecipitation process, was entirely abiotic and to require burial, heat, and time to proceed, however few studies have taken into account the bacterial activity. Recent laboratory studies showed evidence suggesting that the structural ferric iron (Fe(III)) in clay minerals can be reduced by microbial activity and the role of microorganisms is to link organic matter oxidation to metal reduction, resulting in the S-I transformation. In abiotic systems, elevated temperatures are typically used in laboratory experiments to accelerate the smectite to illite reaction in order to compensate for a long geological time in nature. However, in biotic systems, bacteria may catalyze the reaction and elevated temperature or prolonged time may not be necessary. Despite the important role of microbe in S-I reaction, factors that control the reaction mechanism are not clearly addressed yet. This paper, therefore, overviews the current status of microbially mediated smectite-to-illite reaction studies and characterization techniques.