Title: Treatment of metal ions and metalchelate complexes in water with biologically produced H2S

Authors: Torbjörn Håkansson; Staffan Sjöberg; Bo Mattiasson

Addresses: Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Department of Biotechnology, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden. ' Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Umeå University, SE-90187 Umeå, Sweden. ' Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Department of Biotechnology, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Abstract: The possibility to precipitate Pb and Cu as metal sulphides has been investigated. The metals are present as metal chelates, a situation that will appear after soil washing for remediation of polluted soil. Sulphide for the precipitation step is obtained via a bioreactor containing Sulphate-Reducing Bacteria (SRB). The effects on the precipitation process for copper and lead were studied in the presence of four different chelating substances (EDTA, NTA, CDTA, DTPA), with a precipitation of more than 98% for both Pb2+ and Cu2+. The results clearly indicate that chelate washing and the subsequent precipitation is a viable technology.

Keywords: metal ions; metal chelates; SRB; sulphate-reducing bacteria; precipitation; remediation; CDTA; DTPA; EDTA; NTA; metal sulphides; lead; copper; heavy metals; soil pollution; environmental pollution; chelate washing; hydrogen sulphide.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2012.046396

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2012 Vol.9 No.3/4, pp.330 - 346

Published online: 13 Dec 2014 *

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