Microbial Degradation of Perchlorate: Principles and Applications

Abstract

Perchlorate (ClO 42 ) release into the environment has occurred primarily in association with its manufacture and use in solid rocket propellant. When released into groundwater, perchlorate can spread over large distances because it is highly soluble in water and adsorbs poorly to soil. Two proven techniques to remove perchlorate from drinking water are anaerobic biological reactors and ion exchange. In this review, we focus on the application of microbiological systems for degrading perchlorate. Some bacteria can use perchlorate as an electron acceptor while oxidizing a large range of substrates. Perchlorate-respiring bacteria (PRB) are widely distributed in the environment, and are enriched at perchlorate-contaminated sites. We review the pathways by which PRB degrade perchlorate, and the different biological treatment processes that have been developed to remove perchlorate from water sources. We also discuss the effects of alternate electron acceptors in the water, such as oxygen and nitrate, on perchlorate removal. Although many different biological treatment systems using PRB have so far only been proven at the bench scale, all pilot scale tests performed to date with a few of these systems have been successful. The success of these perchlorate bioreactor tests indicates that biological treatment is a suitable method for soil remediation and water treatment of perchlorate-contaminated water.

Perchlorate Behavior in a Municipal Lake Following Fireworks Displays

“…Perchlorate-reducing organisms can use a variety of organic carbon substrates as electron donors, such as glucose, acetate, vegetable oils, and natural organic carbon compounds present in soils and sediments (6,8,14,15). Biological transformation of perchlorate has been successfully utilized for drinking water treatment (16)(17) and for in situ groundwater remediation (18)(19)(20)(21).…”

Expression of Chlorite Dismutase and Chlorate Reductase in the Presence of Oxygen and/or Chlorate as the Terminal Electron Acceptor in Ideonella dechloratans

“…Chlorate, for example, is highly toxic to brown algae (25,35), and perchlorate may have a direct influence on human health, as it affects the function of iodide transporters in the thyroid and mammary glands (9,17,38). The main source of chlorate contamination is chlorine dioxide (ClO 2 ) bleaching in the pulp and paper industry (8), and the most efficient remediation techniques for both chlorate and perchlorate are based on degradation performed by microorganisms (13,33,43). More than 40 bacterial strains that are able to grow by dissimilatory perchlorate or chlorate reduction have been isolated (2,6,10,13,15,18,21,22,24,36,37,39,40).…”

Rapid and complete destruction of perchlorate in water and ion-exchange brine using stabilized zero-valent iron nanoparticles

“…For its unique chemistry, it has been highly challenging to remove perchlorate from water by traditional water treatment approaches (Hatzinger, 2005). In recent years, various treatment technologies have been developed and/or tested, including biological reduction (Logan and LaPoint, 2002;Min et al, 2004;Xu et al, 2003), ion exchange (IX) (Gu et al, 2001(Gu et al, , 2003Clifford, 2004, 2006;Xiong et al, 2006), tailored activated carbon sorption (Chen et al, 2005;Parette et al, 2005), filtration (Yoon et al, 2003), and chemical reduction (Moore et al, 2003;Gu et al, 2006). However, these technologies are limited by some critical technical and/or economic drawbacks such as slow degradation kinetics and production of large volumes of concentrated process waste residuals.…”