Biological removal of metal ions from aqueous process streams
Year: 1978
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Aqueous waste streams from nuclear fuel processing operations may contain trace quantities of heavy metals such as uranium. Conventional chemical and physical treatment may be ineffective or very expensive when uranium concentrations in the range of 10 to 100 g/m/sup 3/ must be reduced to 1 g/m/sup 3/ or less. The ability of some microorganisms to adsorb or complex dissolved heavy metals offers an alternative treatment method. Uranium uptake by Saccharomyces cerevisiae NRRL Y-2574 and a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was examined to identify factors which might affect a process for the removal of uranium from wastewater streams. At uranium concentrations in the range of 10 to 500 g/m/sup 3/, where the binding capacity of the biomass was not exceeded, temperature, pH, and initial uranium concentration were found to influence the rate of uranium uptake, but not the soluble uranium concentration at equilibrium. 6 figs.
Authors: S.E. Shumate, G.W. Strandberg, J.R. Parrott
Language: English
Subfield: Inorganic Chemistry
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1580905979