UI Research Team Earns DOE Bioremediation Grant
Monday, December 1 1997
A team of four University of Idaho researchers has been awarded a three-year, $748,000 grant from the U. S. Department of Energy to study bioremediation of soils containing heavy metals and radiation-emitting contaminants.^^Scott Fendorf, professor in the UI Department of Plant, Soil and Entomological Sciences (PSES), is the principle investigator. He's joined by Matt Morra, soil biogeochemist, and Guy Knudsen, soil microbiologist, both in PSES, and Frank Rosenzweig of the Department of Biological Sciences.^^Researchers have already established that naturally occurring bacteria in soils can react with a number of hazardous contaminants, such as cobalt, chromium and uranium, to reduce them to less hazardous forms. What researchers don't know--and what the UI team will be investigating-is how the organisms accomplish the remediation process.^^"I became curious," said Fendorf. "Was this an active process where the bacteria were directly responsible for the reduction, or was it a secondary process resulting from a reaction with bacterial products released in the soil?"^^Fendorf uses chromium as an example of what scientists know and don't know about the bioremediation process. "A number of organisms have been identified that appear to responsible for reducing chromium from chromium (VI), which is a hazardous metal, to chromium (III), which is fairly benign," said Fendorf. Scientists also know that chromium (III) tends to adhere to components in the soil, so it doesn't leach into groundwater. Chromium (VI), in addition to being toxic, is also very mobile and a threat to underground water. The organisms, bacteria in this case, also produce sulfite and iron (II).^^"The question is, in a natural system, do the bacteria reduce chromium or are the iron (II) and sulfite produced by the bacteria responsible for the process?" queried Fendorf.^^Another area of investigation involves the possibility of reoxidation or remobilization of the metal. "There is the possibility that, depending on conditions in the soil, the metals can transform back and forth between hazardous and less hazardous states," said Fendorf. "We'll be trying to determine the conditions that would limit that transformation."^^Bioremediation is currently an active, competitive area of research, not just in the United States, but worldwide. A number of UI researchers are involved in microbial bioremediation research relating to both organic and inorganic contaminants.^^The Department of Energy has been active in conducting research and supporting other work to address clean-up of contaminated DOE sites. Work is being done at both Hanford, Wash., and the Idaho National Environmental Engineering Laboratory.^^Clean-up of hazardous waste often involves excavation of the contaminated soil and removing it to a hazardous waste landfill where it is stored. Some work is currently underway to remove the soil, treat it and then return it to the site. But the UI research team's project would involve treating the soil in place, which could prove to be far less costly.^^"Bioremediation could be an affordable alternative--where you use naturally occurring organisms to reduce the toxic materials down to less hazardous forms and stabilize them in the soil to reduce the threat to humans, plants and animals--possibly a less expensive and less disturbing solution," said Fendorf.^^-30-^^jo--12/1/97 NSC^
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