Abstract
Hexavalent chromium, Cr(6+), is a common and toxic pollutant in soils and waters. Reduction of the mobile Cr(6+) to the less mobile and less toxic trivalent chromium, Cr(3+), can be achieved with conventional chemical reduction technologies. Alternatively, Cr(6+) can be biochemically reduced to Cr(3+) by anaerobic microbial consortia which appear to use Cr(6+) as a terminal electron acceptor. A bioprocess for Cr(6+) reduction has been demonstrated using a packed-bed bioreactor containing ceramic packing, and then compared to a similar bioreactor containing DuPont Bio-Sep beads. An increase in volumetric productivity (from 4 mg Cr(6+)/L/h to 260 mg Cr(6+)/L/h, probably due to an increase in biomass density, was obtained using Bio-Sep beads. The beads contain internal macropores which were shown by scanning electron microscopy to house dense concentrations of bacteria. Comparisons to conventional Cr(6+) treatment technologies indicate that a bioprocess has several economic and operational advantages.
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© 1997 Humana Press Inc.
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Turick, C.E., Camp, C.E., Apel, W.A. (1997). Reduction of Cr(6+) to Cr(3+) in a Packed-Bed Bioreactor. In: Davison, B.H., Wyman, C.E., Finkelstein, M. (eds) Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, vol 63-65. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2312-2_77
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2312-2_77
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