BIOLOGICAL REMOVAL OF MERCURY FROM TOXIC WASTE.
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Mercury resistant bacteria have been applied to the biological treatment of mercury-contaminated waste. The approach was to use mercury resistant bacteria to reduce Hg**2** plus to Hg**0. After preliminary batch culture studies, a pure strain of mercury resistant Escherichia coli was introduced into a bioreactor equipped with a pump for adding HgCl//2 in-line. Using nonsterile, urban sewage (average BOD//5 135 mg/l) in a continuous operation, it was found that the bacteria could remove mercuric ion for periods of over 2 weeks at the rate of 2. 5 mg/l-h. If the effluent was allowed to set at room temperature for an additional 24 h after exiting the bioreactor, 98% of the added mercury (70 mg/l) was removed. The biological process was applied to an actual industrial sample from the chlor-alkali industry. Making only slight modification to our biological process, we were able to completely detoxify this material using the mercury resistant bacteria. These results indicate the feasibility of the biological approach to the control of industrial mercury pollution.
