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Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering >> 2012, Volume 6, Issue 2 doi: 10.1007/s11705-012-1284-3

Mercury removal and recovery by immobilized

Faculty of Engineering, Tohoku-Gakuin University, Miyagi 985-8537, Japan

Available online: 2012-06-05

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Abstract

From several mercury removing microorganisms, we selected MB1, which is non-pathogenic, broad-spectrum mercury resistant, mercuric ion reducing, heat tolerant, and spore-forming, as a useful bacterium for bioremediation of mercury pollution. In this study, mercury removal performance of the immobilized MB1 was investigated to develop safe, efficient and stable catalytic bio-agent for mercury bioremediation. The results showed that the alginate gel immobilized MB1 cells efficiently removed 80% of mercury from the solution containing 10 mg/L mercuric chloride within 24 h. These cells still had high activity of mercury removal even after mercuric ion loading was repeated for nine times. The analysis of mercury contents of the alginate beads with and without immobilized MB1 suggested that a large portion of reduced metallic mercury was trapped in the gel beads. It was concluded that the alginate gel immobilized MB1 cells have potential to remove and recover mercury from mercury-containing water.

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