a cromului 3,6 pe celule de pseudomonas aeruginosa

Upload: georgebyg

Post on 29-May-2018

215 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

  • 8/9/2019 a Cromului 3,6 Pe Celule de Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

    1/5

    Biochemical Engineering Journal 36 (2007) 5458

    Biosorption of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) onto the cell surfaceofPseudomonas aeruginosa

    So-Young Kang a, Jong-Un Lee b, Kyoung-Woong Kim a,

    a Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST),

    Gwangju 500-712, South KoreabDepartment of Civil, Geosystem and Environmental Engineering, Chonnam National University,

    Gwangju 500-757, South Korea

    Received 6 September 2005; received in revised form 16 May 2006; accepted 12 June 2006

    Abstract

    Biosorption of the chromium ions Cr(III) and Cr(VI) onto the cell surface of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was investigated. Batch experiments

    were conducted with various initial concentrations of chromium ions to obtain the sorption capacity and isotherms. It was found that the sorption

    isotherms of P. aeruginosa for Cr(III) were described well by Langmuir isotherm models, while Cr(VI) appeared to fit Freundlich models. The

    results of FT-IR analysis suggested that the chromium binding sites on the bacterial cell surface were most likely carboxyl and amine groups. The

    bacterial surface ofP. aeruginosa seemed to engage in reductive and adsorptive reactions with respect to Cr(VI) biosorption.

    2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

    Keywords: Biosorption; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Chromium; FT-IR spectroscopy; Bioremediation; Wastewater treatment

    1. Introduction

    Toxic heavy metals are frequently contained in wastewaters

    produced by many industrial processes, such as those employed

    in the electroplating, metal finishing, metallurgical, tannery,

    chemical manufacturing, mining, and battery manufacturing

    industries [1,2]. The existence of heavy metals in the environ-

    ment represents a very significant and long-term environmental

    hazard. Even at low concentrations these metals can be toxic to

    organisms, including humans. In particular, chromium is a con-

    taminant that is a known mutagen, teratogen and carcinogen [3].

    Chromium is generally found in electroplating and metal finish-

    ing industrial effluents, as well as sewage and wastewater treat-

    ment plant discharges [4]. Among the several oxidation states

    (di, tri, penta and hexa), trivalent chromium, Cr(III), together

    with the hexavalent state, Cr(VI), can be the main forms present

    in aquatic environments [5]. Chromate (CrO42) is the prevalent

    species of Cr(VI) in natural aqueous environments, and is the

    major pollutant from chromium-related industries [6]. Although

    Cr(III) is less toxic than Cr(VI), long-term exposure to Cr(III)

    Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 62 970 2442; fax: +82 62 970 2434.

    E-mail address: [email protected] (K.-W. Kim).

    is known to cause allergic skin reactions and cancer [7]. As a

    result, the total chromium level in effluent is strictly regulatedin many countries. In the USA, the concentration of chromium

    in drinking water has been regulated with a maximum level of

    0.1 mg/l for total chromium [8].

    The removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions has

    therefore received considerable attention in recent years. How-

    ever, the practical application of physicochemical technology

    such as chemical precipitation, membrane filtration and ion

    exchange is sometimes restricted due to technical or economical

    constraints. For example, the ion exchange process is very effec-

    tive but requires expensive adsorbent materials [9,10]. The use

    of low-costwastematerials as adsorbents of dissolved metal ions

    provides economic solutions to this global problem and can be

    considered an eco-friendly complementary [11,12]. At present,

    emphasis is given to the utilization of biological adsorbents for

    the removal and recovery of heavy metal contaminants.

    Biomass involving pure microbial strains has shown high

    capacities for the selective uptake of metals from dilute metal-

    bearing solutions. Several investigations have reported that

    Pseudomonas aeruginosa displays efficiency for metal uptake

    [1315]. Chang and Hong [16] found that the amount of mer-

    cury adsorbed by a P. aeruginosa biomass sample (180 mg Hg/g

    dry cells) was higher than that bound to a cation exchange

    1369-703X/$ see front matter 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

    doi:10.1016/j.bej.2006.06.005

    mailto:[email protected]://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2006.06.005http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2006.06.005mailto:[email protected]
  • 8/9/2019 a Cromului 3,6 Pe Celule de Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

    2/5

    S.-Y. Kang et al. / Biochemical Engineering Journal 36 (2007) 5458 55

    resin (100 mg Hg/g dry resin). Hu et al. [17] reported that P.

    aeruginosa strain CSU showed the highest affinity and maximal

    capacity for uranium (100 mg U/g dry weight), and that it was

    alsocompetitive when compared to commercialcation exchange

    resins.

    Previous studies on biosorption using microorganisms have

    generally focused on the removal of metal ions from aqueous

    solutions. However, a few studies were undertaken to interpret

    and establish the mechanisms involved in metal ion binding.

    Furthermore, the binding sites for chromium have not been

    specifically identified.

    The objective of the present work was to assess the potential

    of P. aeruginosa for the biosorption of chromium. The func-

    tional groups involved in chromium biosorption were identified

    using FT-IR analysis. These results would contribute to a better

    understanding of biosorption phenomena and aid in the devel-

    opment of potential biosorbents that possess high capacities for

    heavy metal uptake from aqueous environments.

    2. Materials and methods

    2.1. Preparation of the biomass

    P. aeruginosa PAO1 (courtesy of Dr. Beveridge, University

    of Guelph, Canada) was used as a biosorbent in these exper-

    iments. P. aeruginosa is a bacterium commonly isolated from

    various environmental sources such as soil, water and plant sur-

    faces [18]. The bacteria were cultured following the procedure

    outlined in Kang et al. [19]. In brief, the cells were grown aer-

    obically with agitation in a growth medium (TSB; Trypticase

    Soy Broth, Difco) at 37 C and set at 180 rpm in a shaking incu-

    bator. After reaching the mid-exponential growth phase of cells(OD600nm = 1.0), the cells were harvested by centrifugation at

    6000 rpm for 15 min and washed three times with deionized

    water. Prepared biomass was used as adsorbent in batch experi-

    ments within 1 h under nutrient-absent conditions, and therefore

    metabolic processes were minimized or negligible [19,20].

    2.2. Surface characterization

    To determine the nature of functional groups on the cell

    wall for metal sorption, potentiometric titration of an aqueous

    cellular suspension and IR spectrum analysis of the solid phase

    biomass were performed. For the potentiometric titration, the

    biomass was washed three times with deionized water, and thebiomass suspension (3 g dryweight/l) was then potentiometri-

    cally titrated with prepared 0.05N NaOH using potentiometric

    titrator (Metrohm Ltd., Switzerland). To identify functional

    groups using the IR spectrum procedure, the bacteria were

    pelleted by centrifugation at 6000 rpm for 15 min and dried

    overnight at 50 C in an oven. One milligram of finely crushed

    particles of biomass was encapsulated in 300 mg of KBr. The

    infrared spectra of the biomass were recorded in KBr disks

    using an FT-IR spectrophotometer (Jasco, Japan) from 900

    to 4000 cm1 under ambient conditions. Infrared spectra of

    P. aeruginosa with or without adsorbed chromium ions were

    obtained.

    2.3. Biosorption experiments

    Thirty-milliliter solutions of chromium were prepared with

    Cr(NO3)39H2OandK2Cr2O7 (SigmaAldrich Co.) at different

    initial concentrations without adjusting pH. A biomass sample

    of 75 mg (dry-weight basis) was added separately into the each

    flask and the solutions were then agitated in a shaking incubator

    at 180 rpm and 25 C. Five-milliliter samples were obtained and

    filtered through a syringe filter (0.2m pore size) after 10 h

    (well above the adsorption equilibrium time of about 5 h [19]),

    and dissolved metals in the filtrates were determined. Specific

    metal uptake by the cells was then calculated from the initial

    and final concentrations of chromium ions.

    2.4. Analysis of chromium ions

    Total concentrations of chromium in the samples were mea-

    sured by an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spec-

    trometer (ICP-AES, Thermo Jarrell Ash, USA). The analyses

    of Cr(VI) in aqueous samples were performed using a UVvisspectrophotometer (Shimadzu, Japan) at 540 nm after complex-

    ation with 1,5-diphenylcarbazide. The analytical method for

    chromium is outlined in Standard Methods [21].

    3. Results and discussion

    3.1. Surface characterization of P. aeruginosa

    The bacterial species used in this study was P. aeruginosa,

    a gram-negative aerobic species that is commonly found in

    near-surface systems [18]. The cell wall of this bacterium is

    composed of peptidoglycan and teichoic acids, and possessescarboxyl, phosphoryl, hydroxyl, and amino functional groups at

    the surface [22]. Before a study of the biosorption of metal, an

    investigation of the surface characteristics ofP. aeruginosa was

    required to understand the mechanisms of metal biosorption.

    The titration curve of protonated P. aeruginosa shows that the

    bacteria provide a substantial buffering capacity that is depen-

    dent on the types of functional groups present in the biomass

    (Fig. 1). The biomass titration results revealed that there are at

    least two main functional groups on the surface of bacteria. To

    evaluate the properties of functional groups, we can consider a

    chemical model incorporating the reactions between the groups

    of bacteria and the protons in the solution. The reactions and

    equilibrium constants (Ka, Kb) of certain functional groups maybe defined as follows:

    AH A +H+, Ka =[A][H+]

    [AH](1)

    BH B +H+, Kb =[B][H+]

    [BH](2)

    where [A],[B] and[AH], [BH] represent theconcentration of

    deprotonated and protonated surface species, respectively, and

    [H+] represents the activity of protons in solution. We solved

    the equilibrium constants of each surface functional group using

    the surface equilibrium program FITEQL 4.0 [23]. The negative

  • 8/9/2019 a Cromului 3,6 Pe Celule de Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

    3/5

    56 S.-Y. Kang et al. / Biochemical Engineering Journal 36 (2007) 5458

    Fig. 1. Biomass potentiometric titration: P. aeruginosa was washed by distilled

    ionized water, and then potentiometrically titrated with 0.05N NaOH. Symbols

    are experimental data and the curve is the prediction of the model.

    logarithm of the equilibrium constants pKa and pKb were found

    to be 5.2 and 9.5, respectively, which correspond to carboxyl

    ( 4 < pKa < 6) and hydroxyl (9 < pKa < 11) groups [24,25].

    An FT-IR analysis was carried out to confirm the type of

    functional groups. As shown in Fig. 2, the FT-IR spectrum ofP.

    aeruginosa displays a number of absorption peaks, indicating

    the complex nature of the biomass examined. The broad absorp-

    tion peak around 3430 cm1 is indicative of the existence of

    OHand NHstretching, thus showing the presence of hydroxyl

    and amine groups on the bacteria. The band at 2938 cm1 can be

    assigned to the CH stretch. The absorption bands at 1660 cm1

    (mainly C O stretch) and 1551 cm1 (mainly NH stretch) can

    be attributed to the amide I and amide II bands of amide bond

    due to the protein peptide bond. The moderately strong bands

    at 1080 cm1 could be assigned to the CN stretching vibration

    of the protein fractions. It was clear that the carboxylate ions

    gave rise to two bands: C O stretch at 1468 and 1414 cm1.

    A band at about 1246 cm1, representing SO3 stretching, was

    observed in the FT-IR spectrum ofP. aeruginosa.

    Fig. 2. IR spectrum in solid phase of the lyophilized P. aeruginosa in KBr disk.

    Fig. 3. Biosorption isotherms of Cr(III) onto P. aeruginosa. The biomass was

    contactedwithmetal solutionfor 10h at 25C and180rpm inshakingincubator.

    The line was produced by using the MINEQL+.

    3.2. Biosorption isotherms of chromium

    Experimental biosorption isotherms of chromium ions were

    obtained to evaluate sorption capacity and understandthe pattern

    of chromium biosorption by P. aeruginosa.

    Sorption experiments of Cr(III) were carried out at a vari-

    ety of initial concentrations, and revealed that the amount of

    specific Cr(III) uptake increased in response to augmentation

    of the initial metal concentration of each metal for the range

    05 mmol/l of equilibrium concentration (Fig. 3). However, the

    amount of Cr(III) adsorbed onto the cells remained constant

    beyond 150mol/l of equilibrium concentration and was unaf-

    fected by increases in the initial input metal concentration, with

    the sorption profile showing a clear plateau. Sorption isotherms

    displaying such a pattern indicated that Cr(III) uptake by P.

    aeruginosa cells reached equilibrium, with the mechanisms of

    uptake being saturated. The isotherms derived from these exper-

    iments fit the Langmuir isotherm model to a reasonable degree.

    The linearized forms of Langmuir adsorption isotherms were

    used to evaluate the sorption data and are represented as follows

    [26]:

    1

    =

    1

    max+

    1

    Kadsmax

    1

    [A](3)

    where is the amount of adsorbed metal ion per mass of

    adsorbent (mol/g)and max is the maximum adsorption capac-ity of metal ion (mol/g); A is the equilibrium concentration

    of metal ions in solution (mol/l) and Kads the equilibrium

    adsorption constant (l/mol). Linear transformation of the plots

    in Fig. 3 using the Langmuir model showed that the maxi-

    mum amount of Cr(III) adsorbed by P. aeruginosa cells was

    136mol/g of dry biomass weight and that Kads was equivalent

    to 1.1 106 l/mol.

    The biosorption of Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solution by P.

    aeruginosa was also studied in a batch system (Fig. 4), with

    results showing that biosorption of Cr(VI) by P. aeruginosa

    includes two processes. The first process is the reduction of

    Cr(VI) to Cr(III) by reductive functional groups according to

  • 8/9/2019 a Cromului 3,6 Pe Celule de Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

    4/5

    S.-Y. Kang et al. / Biochemical Engineering Journal 36 (2007) 5458 57

    Fig. 4. Biosorption isotherms of Cr(VI) onto P. aeruginosa. The biomass was

    contactedwithmetal solutionfor 10h at 25C and180rpm inshakingincubator.

    The lines were produced by using the MINEQL+.

    the following reaction:

    Cr2O72+ 16e+14H+ 2Cr3++7H2O (4)

    A number of previous experimental studies of bacterial Cr(VI)

    reduction reported the enzymatic reduction as a product of

    metabolic activity [27,28], and most of these focused on the

    requirement of external electron donors for reduction to occur

    [29,30]. However, Fein et al. [31] suggested that the Cr(VI)

    reduction is not dependent on cell metabolism and that some

    component of the cell wall serves as the electron donor for the

    reduction reaction. We have also investigated the reduction of

    Cr(VI) to Cr(III) in the absence of externally supplied electron

    donors.In the second process, chromium ions are removed from

    wastewater using the adsorptive functional groups ofP. aerug-

    inosa. The adsorptive property is due to the electrostatic inter-

    action between the charged surfaces of bacteria and chromium

    ions. The experimental sorption isotherms of Cr(VI) are rep-

    resented by the Freundlich sorption isotherm in Fig. 4. The

    linearized form of Freundlich is represented by the following

    equation [26]:

    log = log m + n log[A] (5)

    where m represents the Freundlich constant and n is the measure

    of the nonlinearity involved. Values of m and n were, respec-tively, found to be 80.8 and 1.03 as the total adsorbed chromium

    ions; 38.6 and 1.02 as the adsorbed Cr(III) in Cr(VI) biosorp-

    tion to P. aeruginosa. The difference of concentration between

    total and hexavalent chromium wastaken as the concentration of

    trivalent chromium. These results show that the bacterial func-

    tionalgroups ofP. aeruginosa can act as reductive and adsorptive

    sites in metal biosorption.

    3.3. FT-IR spectra of chromium-loaded P. aeruginosa

    To confirm the difference between functional groups in rela-

    tion to biosorption of Cr(III) and Cr(VI), the FT-IR study was

    Fig. 5. FT-IR spectra ofP. aeruginosa prepared in KBr disks: (a) pristine; (b)

    Cr(III)-loaded; (c) Cr(VI)-loaded bacteria.

    carried out using chromium-loaded P. aeruginosa. The absorp-

    tion spectrum of chromium-loaded biomass (at pH 5) was

    compared with that of pristine biomass. The chromium-loaded

    biomass was washed, dried and powdered after biosorption of

    chromium ions under thesameconditions used in thepreparation

    of pristine biomass. A change of absorption bands can be seen

    when comparing the FT-IR spectra of pristine and chromium-

    loaded biomass (Fig. 5).

    Fig. 5(b) shows the changes in the spectrum of the biomass

    after sorption of Cr(III) by P. aeruginosa. An interesting phe-

    nomenon was the sharp decrease in the band intensity at

    1414 cm1 corresponding to C O stretching after metal bind-

    ing. On the basis of the change of the band, it was reasonable

    to assume that the peak value suggested the chelating (biden-

    tate) character of the Cr(III) biosorption onto carboxyl groups

    [32]. The structure of the metal bound to carboxyl ligands on

    the bacteria is likely to take the following form [33]:

    In the case of Cr(VI)-loaded bacteria, the spectral analysis

    of P. aeruginosa before and after metal binding indicated that

    NH is involved in Cr(VI) biosorption (Fig. 5(c)). There is a

    substantial decrease in the absorption intensity of NH bands

    at 1660 and 1551 cm1. The broad overlapping range for NH

    and OH stretching in the range 32003600 cm1 also presents

    some changes, but it is difficult to determinethe group that causes

    the shift. These amino groups are protonated at pH 3 [34] and

    the negatively charged chromate ions become electrostatically

    attracted to the positively charged amines of the biomass cell

    wall. Similar to Cr(III)-loaded bacteria, the characteristic peak

  • 8/9/2019 a Cromului 3,6 Pe Celule de Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

    5/5

    58 S.-Y. Kang et al. / Biochemical Engineering Journal 36 (2007) 5458

    of C O stretching at 1414cm1 decreased and indicated Cr(III)

    binding after reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III).

    4. Conclusions

    This study shows that P. aeruginosa can be applied to

    chromium-contaminated wastewater. The sorption of chromium

    ions by P. aeruginosa was modeled well by the Langmuir and

    Freundlich sorption isotherms. The data of potentiometric titra-

    tion indicated thepresenceof twomajor functional groupson the

    cell wall,corresponding to pKa values of 5.2and 9.5. FT-IRspec-

    trometry showed bindings of chromium ions were dominated by

    complexation to the carboxyl and amine groups on the biomass

    surface. In the case of Cr(VI) biosorption of P. aeruginosa, the

    reduction and adsorption of Cr(VI) occurred coincidently in an

    abiotic process. This phenomenonis environmentally significant

    because most bacteria in the subsurface exist in nutrient-poor

    or -absent conditions under natural conditions [31]. This study

    shows the potential for the use of P. aeruginosa for chromium

    recoveryin various water and wastewater treatmentapplications,and highlights the efficacy of using biological agents for the

    remediation of polluted aqueous environments.

    Acknowledgements

    This research was supported by the Gwangju Institute of

    Science and Technology (GIST) Research Fund and National

    Research Laboratory Project (Arsenic Geoenvironment Lab.) to

    K.-W. Kim.

    References

    [1] B.J.Alloway, Heavy Metals in Soils, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers,

    New York, 1994.

    [2] C. Polprasert, L.R.J. Liyanage,Hazardous waste generation andprocessing,

    Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 16 (1996) 213226.

    [3] L.W. Chang, Toxicology of Metals, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1996.

    [4] E. Merian, Metals and their Compounds in the Environment. Occurrence,

    Analysis and Biological Relevance, VCH, Weinheim, 1991.

    [5] Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Toxicologi-

    cal Profile for Chromium, U.S. Public Health Service, U.S. Department of

    Health and Human Services, Atlanta, GA, 1998.

    [6] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Toxicological Review of Hexava-

    lent Chromium, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of

    Research and Development, Washington, DC, 1998.

    [7] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Toxicological Review of Triva-

    lent Chromium, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office ofResearch and Development, Washington, DC, 1998.

    [8] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, List of Drinking Water Contam-

    inants and MCLs, EPA 816-F-03-016, Office of Water, Washington, DC,

    2003.

    [9] M. Lehmann, A.I. Zouboulis, K.A. Matis, Removal of metal ions from

    dilute aqueous solutions: a comparative study of inorganic sorbent materi-

    als, Chemosphere 39 (1999) 881892.

    [10] B. Volesky, Detoxification of metal-bearing effluents: biosorption for the

    next century, Hydrometallurgy 59 (2001) 203216.

    [11] M.D. Mullen, D.C. Wolf, F.G. Ferris, T.J. Beveridge, C.A. Flemming, G.W.

    Bailey, Bacterial sorption of heavy metals, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 55

    (1989) 31433149.

    [12] B. Volesky, Z.R. Holan, Biosorption of heavy metals, Biotechnol. Prog. 11

    (1995) 235250.

    [13] G.M. Strandberg, S.E. Shumate II, J.R. Parrott, Microbial cells as biosor-

    bents for heavy metals: accumulation of uranium by Saccharomyces sere-

    visiae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 41 (1981)

    237245.

    [14] A.-C. Texier, Y. Andres, P. Le Cloirec, Selecive biosorption of lanthanide

    (La, Eu, Yb) ions by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Environ. Sci. Technol. 33

    (1999) 489495.[15] A.-C. Texier, Y. Andres, M. Illemassene, P. Le Cloirec, Characterization of

    lanthanide ions binding sites in the cell wall ofPseudomonas aeruginosa,

    Environ. Sci. Technol. 34 (2000) 610615.

    [16] J.-S. Chang, J. Hong, Biosorption of mercury by the inactivated cells of

    Pseudomonas aeruginosa PU21(Rip64), Biotechnol. Bioeng. 44 (1994)

    9991006.

    [17] M.Z.-C. Hu, J.M. Norman, B.D. Faison, M.E. Reeves, Biosorption of

    uranium by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain CSU: characterization and

    comparison studies, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 51 (1996) 237247.

    [18] J.-L. Ramos, Pseudomonas, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New

    York, 2004.

    [19] S.Y. Kang, J.U.Lee, K.W. Kim,Metalremoval fromwastewaterby bacterial

    biosorption: kinetics and competition studies, Environ. Technol. 26 (2005)

    615624.

    [20] S.Y. Kang, J.U. Lee, K.W. Kim, A study of the biosorption characteristicsof Co2+ in wastewater using Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Key Eng. Mater.

    277279 (2005) 418423.

    [21] A.D. Eaton, L.S. Clesceri, A.E. Greenberg, Standard Methods for

    the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 17th ed., American Pub-

    lic Health Association (APHA), American Water Works Association

    (AWWA), Water Pollution Control Federation (WPCF), Washington, DC,

    2000.

    [22] T.J. Beveridge, Role of cellular design in bacterial metal accumulation and

    mineralization, Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 43 (1989) 147171.

    [23] A. Herbelin, J. Westall, FITEQL, A computational program for determina-

    tionof chemicalequilibriumconstants fromexperimentaldata, Version 4.0,

    Report 99-01, Department of Chemistry, Oregon St. University, Corvallis,

    OR, USA, 1999.

    [24] J.B. Fein, C.J. Daughney, N. Yee, T.A. Davis, A chemical equilibrium

    model for metal adsorption onto bacterial surfaces, Geochim. Cosmochim.

    Acta 61 (1997) 33193328.

    [25] C.J. Daughney, J.B. Fein, N. Yee, A comparison of the thermodynamics

    of metal adsorption onto two common bacteria, Chem. Geol. 144 (1998)

    161176.

    [26] W. Stumm, J.J.Morgan, Aquatic Chemistry: ChemicalEquilibria andRates

    in Natural Waters, Wiley/Interscience, New York, 1996.

    [27] P.C. DeLeo, H.L. Ehrlich, Reduction of hexavalent chromium by Pseu-

    domonasfluorescens LB300 in batch andcontinuouscultures, Appl. Micro-

    biol. Biotechnol. 40 (1994) 756759.

    [28] L. Philip, L. Iyengar, C. Venkobachar, Cr(VI) reduction by Bacillus coag-

    ulans isolated from contaminated soils, J. Environ. Eng. 124 (1998)

    11651170.

    [29] L.H. Bopp, H.L. Ehrlich, Chromate resistance and reduction in Pseu-

    domonas fluorescens strain LB 300, Arch. Microbiol. 150 (1988) 426

    431.

    [30] H. Shen, Y.-T. Wang, Biological reduction of chromium by E. coli, J. Env-

    iron. Eng. 120 (1994) 560572.

    [31] J.B. Fein, D.A. Fowle, J. Cahill, K. Kemner, M. Boyanov, B. Bunker, Non-

    metabolic reduction of Cr(VI) by bacterial surfaces under nutrient-absent

    conditions, Geomicobiol. J. 19 (2002) 369382.

    [32] N. Yee, J.B.Fein, Cd adsorption ontobacterialsurfaces: a universal adsorp-

    tion edge? Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 65 (2001) 20372042.

    [33] M.M. Figueira, B. Volesky, H.J. Mathieu, Instrumental analysis study of

    iron species biosorption by Sargassum biomass, Environ. Sci. Technol. 33

    (1999) 18401846.

    [34] B. Volesky, Sorption and Biosorption, BV Sorbex, Inc., Canada, 2003.