Long-term data reveals the importance of hydraulic load and inflow water quality for Sb removal in boreal treatment peatlands

Khan, Uzair Akbar; Kujala, Katharina; Planer-Friedrich, Britta; Räisänen, Marja Liisa; Ronkanen, Anna‐Kaisa

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2020.105785

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Inflow waters are slightly basic (pH 7.8), which has led to elevated pH in the peat porewater in the treatment peatland (pH 6–7) compared to surrounding peatland areas not inundated with process wastewater (pH 45). A more detailed site description can be found in Palmer et al (2015) and Khan et al (2020) . Samples were taken from the upper 10 cm of peat near the process water inflow point in July 2018 for metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analysis (triplicate soil cores) and in March 2020 for cultivation studies, as highest peat arsenic concentrations have been observed near the inflow (150–600 mg kg –1 DW in 2020; see also Palmer et al, 2015 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Diversity and Metabolic Potential of Psychrotolerant Arsenic-Metabolizing Microorganisms From a Subarctic Peatland Used for Treatment of Mining-Affected Waters by Culture-Dependent and -Independent Techniques

Ziegelhöfer

Kujala

2021

Front. Microbiol.

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Arsenic contamination in water by natural causes or industrial activities is a major environmental concern, and treatment of contaminated waters is needed to protect water resources and minimize the risk for human health. In mining environments, treatment peatlands are used in the polishing phase of water treatment to remove arsenic (among other contaminants), and peat microorganisms play a crucial role in arsenic removal. The present study assessed culture-independent diversity obtained through metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing and culture-dependent diversity obtained by isolating psychrotolerant arsenic-tolerant, arsenite-oxidizing, and arsenate-respiring microorganisms from a peatland treating mine effluent waters of a gold mine in Finnish Lapland using a dilution-to-extinction technique. Low diversity enrichments obtained after several transfers were dominated by the genera Pseudomonas, Polaromonas, Aeromonas, Brevundimonas, Ancylobacter, and Rhodoferax. Even though maximal growth and physiological activity (i.e., arsenite oxidation or arsenate reduction) were observed at temperatures between 20 and 28°C, most enrichments also showed substantial growth/activity at 2–5°C, indicating the successful enrichments of psychrotolerant microorganisms. After additional purification, eight arsenic-tolerant, five arsenite-oxidizing, and three arsenate-respiring strains were obtained in pure culture and identified as Pseudomonas, Rhodococcus, Microbacterium, and Cadophora. Some of the enriched and isolated genera are not known to metabolize arsenic, and valuable insights on arsenic turnover pathways may be gained by their further characterization. Comparison with phylogenetic and functional data from the metagenome indicated that the enriched and isolated strains did not belong to the most abundant genera, indicating that culture-dependent and -independent methods capture different fractions of the microbial community involved in arsenic turnover. Rare biosphere microorganisms that are present in low abundance often play an important role in ecosystem functioning, and the enriched/isolated strains might thus contribute substantially to arsenic turnover in the treatment peatland. Psychrotolerant pure cultures of arsenic-metabolizing microorganisms from peatlands are needed to close the knowledge gaps pertaining to microbial arsenic turnover in peatlands located in cold climate regions, and the isolates and enrichments obtained in this study are a good starting point to establish model systems. Improved understanding of their metabolism could moreover lead to their use in biotechnological applications intended for bioremediation of arsenic-contaminated waters.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Diversity and Metabolic Potential of Psychrotolerant Arsenic-Metabolizing Microorganisms From a Subarctic Peatland Used for Treatment of Mining-Affected Waters by Culture-Dependent and -Independent Techniques

Ziegelhöfer

Kujala

2021

Front. Microbiol.

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“…Mean inflow to TP-A in the period 2010-2018 was 3100 m 3 day -1 , whereas it was somewhat higher to TP-B (around 7000 m 3 day -1 ). More detailed descriptions of the mine (Larkins et al, 2018) and the TPs with their removal efficiencies (Khan et al, 2019(Khan et al, , 2020Kujala et al, 2019;Palmer et al, 2015) can be found in previous studies.…”

Section: 1study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Events such as spring snowmelt, heavy rainfall, or mine closure will also influence the concentrations of contaminants, by diluting the inflow waters to treatment peatlands and ultimately affecting surface water quality in the recipient river (Khan et al, 2019). Natural peatlands are used as mine water treatment systems in Finland (Isokangas et al, 2019;Khan et al, 2020;Larkins et al, 2018), and temporal fluctuations in site chemistry may lead to these peatlands becoming a net source of contamination for the adjacent river system (Palmer et al, 2015).…”

Section: River Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Of Mining Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The best available techniques for lowering environmental impacts of the extractive industry have recently been updated by the European Commission (Garbarino et al, 2018). Despite the fact that mine effluent waters are typically treated and purified using different active (da Silveira et al, 2009;Mackie and Walsh, 2012) and passive (Palmer et al, 2015;Sheoran and Sheoran, 2006) treatment methods, the environmental impact of these pre-treated mine waters can be considerable, especially in pristine Arctic and sub-Arctic waters (Khan et al, 2020;Larkins et al, 2018;Lemly, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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