Bioaccumulation of ¹³⁷Cs by Immobilized Bacterial Species Isolated from Radioactive Wastewater

A. S. Abdel-Razek^1, , Mohamed T. Shaaban², S.A. Mahmoud¹ and E. M. Kandeel¹

¹Hot Laboratories and waste Management Center, Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, Egypt

²Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Egypt

Cite this paper:
A. S. Abdel-Razek, Mohamed T. Shaaban, S.A. Mahmoud and E. M. Kandeel. Bioaccumulation of ¹³⁷Cs by Immobilized Bacterial Species Isolated from Radioactive Wastewater. Journal of Applied & Environmental Microbiology. 2015; 3(5):112-118. doi: 10.12691/jaem-3-5-1

Abstract

The increases of environmental concern over the accumulation of the long term impact radioactive nuclides e.g. ¹³⁷Cs encourage the isolation of bacterial species resistant to radioactive nuclides and could accumulate such nuclides. Bacterial species isolated from hazardous liquid wastes at Hot Laboratories Centre were investigated for their removal of ¹³⁷Cs from waste solutions. The biosorption capacities of the free and immobilized biomass were studied using batch experiments at optimum conditions. Different immobilization matrices namely; calcium alginate (CA), chitosan (CTS), chitosan-alginate (CTS/CA) and polyvinyl alcohol-alginate (PVA/CA) were examined for use in the biosorption system. The effects of the immobilized weight, beads numbers and initial ¹³⁷Cs activity on the removal efficiency were studied. Although, the results indicated that control CA and PVA/CA gel beads had nearly the same and the higher removal efficiency, the CA-immobilized beads showed higher removal percent than that of PVA/CA-immobilized beads. The immobilized system achieved maximum biosorption capacities at ¹³⁷Cs solution activity of 15000 Bq/ml, where 62.2, 66.5 and 46.9 KBq/g dry weight were removed by CA and CA-immobilized Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus licheniformis beads, respectively. Reused experiments for the control CA and CA- immobilized bacteria beads were studied for three cycles. The elution percent increased after the second cycle followed by increase in the removal percent. The studied CA-immobilized system could be used for more than one cycle with removal efficiency of about 50 % of the first cycle.

Keywords:
biosorption ¹³⁷Cs immobilization B. pumilus B. licheniformis radioactive wastewater

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Davidson, C., Harrington, J., Stephenson, M., Monaghan, M., Pudykiewicz, J., Schell, W, “Radioactive cesium from the Chernobyl accident in the Greenland ice sheet,” Science, 237, 633-634, 1987.
[2]	Tomioka, N., Tanaka, K., Uchiyama, H., Yagi, O., Kokufuta, E, “Recovery of Cs-137 by a bioaccumulation system using Rhodococcus erythropolis CS98,” J. Ferment. Bioeng., 85(6), 604-608, 1998.
[3]	Jalali-Rad, R., Ghafourian, H., Asef, Y., Dalir, S., Sahafipour, M., Gharanjik, B, “Biosorption of cesium by native and chemically modified biomass of marine algae: introduce the new biosorbents for biotechnology applications.” J. Hazard. Mater., 116, 125-134, 2004.
[4]	Avery, S.V, “Fate of Caesium in the Environment: Distribution Between the Abiotic and Biotic Components of Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems,” J. Environ. Radioact., 30(2), 139-171, 1996.
[5]	Avery, S.V., Codd, G.A., Gadd, G.M, “Cesium accumulation and interactions with other monovalent cations in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803,” J. General. Microbiol., 137, 405-413, 1991.
[6]	Mashkani, S., Ghazvini, P, “Biotechnological potential of Azolla filiculoides for biosorption of Cs and Sr: application of micro-PIXE for measurement of biosorption,” Bioresour. Technol., 100, 1915-1921, 2009.
[7]	Green-Pedersen, H., Korshin, G.V, “Separation of cesium from high ionic strength solutions using a cobalt hexacyanoferrate-modified graphite electrode,” Environ. Sci. Technol., 33, 2633-2637, 1999.
[8]	Lahiri, S., Roy, K., Bhattacharya, S., Maji, S., Basu, S, “Separation of 134Cs and 152Eu using inorganic ion exchangers, zirconium vanadate and ceric vanadate,” Appl. Radiat. Isotopes 63,: 293-297, 2005.
[9]	El-Kamash, A, “Evaluation of zeolite A for the sorptive removal of Cs‏ and Sr ions from aqueous solutions using batch and fixed bed column operations,” J. Hazard. Mater., 151, 432, 2008.
[10]	Roy, K., Paul, R., Banerjee, B., Lahiri, S, “Extraction of long-lived radionuclides 152,154Eu and 134Cs using environmentally benign aqueous biphasic system,” Radiochim. Acta, 97, 637-641, 2009.
[11]	Wu, J., Li, B., Liao, J, “Behavior and analysis of cesium adsorption on montmorillonite mineral.,” J. Environ. Radioact., 100, 914-920, 2009.
[12]	Mandal, A., Lahiri, S, “Separation of 134Cs and 133Ba radionuclides by calcium alginate beads,” J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 290, 115-118, 2011.
[13]	Andres, Y., Redercher, S., Gerente, C., Thouand, G, “Contribution of biosorption to the behavior of radionuclides in the environment,” J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 247, 89-93, 2001.
[14]	Mukhopadhyay, B., Nag, M., Laskar, S., Lahiri, S, “Accumulation of radiocesium by Pleurotus citrinopileatus species of edible mushroom,” J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 273, 415-418, 2007.
[15]	Parekh, N., Poskitt, J., Dodd, B., Potter, E., Sanchez, A, “Soil microorganisms determine the sorption of radionuclides within organic soil systems,” J. Environ. Radioact., 99, 841-852, 2008.
[16]	Bolsunovsky, A, “Chemical fractionation of radionuclides and stable elements in aquatic plants of the Yenisei River,” Environ. Sci. Technol., 45, 7143-7150, 2011.
[17]	Song, N., Zhang, X., Wang, F., Zhang, C., Tang, S, “Elevated CO2 increases Cs uptake and alters microbial communities and biomass in the rhizosphere of Phytolacca americana L. (pokeweed) and Amaranthus cruentus L. (purple amaranth) grown on soils spiked with various levels of Cs,” J. Environ. Radioact.,112, 29-37, 2012.
[18]	Vinichuk, M., Martensson, A., Ericsson, T., Rosen, K, “Effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on 137Cs uptake by plants grown on different soils,” J. Environ. Radioact., 115, 151-156, 2013.
[19]	Lan, T., Feng, Y., Liao, J., Li, X., Ding, C., Zhang, D., Yang, J., Zeng, J., Yang, Y., Tang, J., Liu, N, “ Biosorption behavior and mechanism of cesium-137 on Rhodosporidium fluviale strain UA2 isolated from cesium solution,” J. Environ Radioact., 134, 6-13, 2014.
[20]	Omar, H.A., Abdel-Razek, A.S., Sayed, M.S, “Biosorption of Cesium-134 from Aqueous Solutions using Immobilized Marine Algae: Equilibrium and kinetics,” Nature and Science, 8(11), 214-221, 2010.
[21]	Dighton, J., Terry, G.M, “Uptake and immobilization of cesium in UK grassland and forest soils by fungi following the Chernobyl accident,” In: Frankland, J.C., Magan, N., Gadd, G.M. (Eds.), Fungi and Environmental Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 184-200, 1996.
[22]	Benson, H.J, “Microbiological application,” WM.C.Brown publisher ,Dubque, Lowa, USA., 82-88,1985.
[23]	Garland, J.L., Mills, A.L, “Classification and characterization of heterotrophic microbial communities on the basis of patterns of community level sole-carbon-source utilization,” App. Environ. Microbial., 57, 2351-2359, 1991.
[24]	Abdel-Razek, A.S., Abdel-Ghany, T.M., Mahmoud, S.A., El-Sheikh, H.H., Mahmoud, M.S. “The use of free and immobilized Cunninghamella elegans for removing cobalt ions from aqueous waste solutions,” World J Microbiol Biotechnol. 25(12), 2137-21450, 2009.
[25]	Li-sheng, Z., Wei-zhong, W., Jian-long, W, “Immobilization of activated sludge using improved polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) gel,” J. Environ. Sci., 19, 1293-1297, 2007.
[26]	Guibal, E, “Interactions of metal ions with chitosan-based sorbents: a review,” Separation and Purification Technology 38, 43-74, 2004.
[27]	Gotoh, T., Matsushima, K., Kikuchi, K-I, “Preparation of alginate–chitosan hybrid gel beads and adsorption of divalent metal ions,” Chemosphere 55, 135-140, 2004.
[28]	Vijayaraghavan, K., Yun, Y.–S, “Bacterial biosorbents and biosorption,” Biotechnol. Adv., 26, 266-291, 2008.
[29]	Park, J.K., Chang, H.N, “Microencapsulation of microbial cells,” Biotechnol Adv, 18, 303-319, 2000.
[30]	Lakkis, J.M, “Encapsulation and Controlled Release: Technologies in Food Systems,” 1st ed. Lakkis JM Eds.; Blackwell Publishing, Ames, USA, 2007.
[31]	Sheng, P.X., Wee, K.H., Ting,Y.P., Chen, J.P, “Biosorption of copper by immobilized marine algal biomass.” Chem. Eng. J., (136), 156-163, 2008.
[32]	Abdel-Razek, S.A., Abdel-Ghany, M.T., Mahmoud, A.S., El- Sheikh, H.H., Mahmoud, S.M, “Treatment of Liquid Hazardous Wastes By Using The Fungus Cunninghamella elegans,” J. Rad. Res. App. Sci., (2)5, 890-902, 2009.