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Bioconversion and Removal of Metals and Radionuclides

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Book cover Perspectives in Bioremediation

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASHT,volume 19))

Abstract

Beneficial and detoxifying mechanisms in microorganisms are described in relation to their potential exploitation for metal and radionuclide bioremediation. Metal toxicity and essentiality are amphibolous aspects of metals in regards to their homeostatic and non homeostatic metabolism. Metals are energy sources, electron acceptors, and are essential for secondary metabolism Metals are effluxed by specific systems to reduce cytoplasmic content to subtoxic levels. Metals may be converted to harmless species by specific enzymes and by the intermediates or final products of microbiological metabolism. In certain circumstances metals are precipitated as colloids, or crystals may be formed; conversely they may be removed by bioleaching, or volatilized by methylation and hydriditization. Most of these microbiological processes can be exploited to reduce metal and radionuclide contamination. Various technologies ranging from different bioreactor configurations to in situ operations have been developed An attempt of radionuclide bioremediation in situ of soil at Chernobyl, Ukraine, is described.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Biology, University of Siena, Via PA. Mattioli, 4, I-53100, Siena, Italy

    F. Baldi

  2. Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry and Petrochemistry, Academic of Sciences of Ukraine, 1, Murmanskaya Str., Kiev, 252660, Ukraine

    V. P. Kukhar

  3. Institute of Biocolloidal Chemistry of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Frunze str. 85, 254080, Kiev, Ukraine

    Z. R. Ulberg

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  1. F. Baldi
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  3. Z. R. Ulberg
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA

    J. R. Wild

  2. Chemical Enzymology Department, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    S. D. Varfolomeyev

  3. Department of Chemistry, Laboratory for Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry, Florence, Italy

    A. Scozzafava

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Baldi, F., Kukhar, V.P., Ulberg, Z.R. (1997). Bioconversion and Removal of Metals and Radionuclides. In: Wild, J.R., Varfolomeyev, S.D., Scozzafava, A. (eds) Perspectives in Bioremediation. NATO ASI Series, vol 19. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5684-4_7

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