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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2002, p. 1938-1946, Vol. 68, No. 4
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.4.1938-1946.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Spatially Oscillating Activity and Microbial Succession of Mercury-Reducing Biofilms in a Technical-Scale Bioremediation System

Harald von Canstein,1* Ying Li,2 Johannes Leonhäuser,1 Elke Haase,1 Andreas Felske,1 Wolf-Dieter Deckwer,2 and Irene Wagner-Döbler1

Division of Microbiology,1 Division of Biochemical Engineering, German Research Centre for Biotechnology, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany2

Received 1 October 2001/ Accepted 22 January 2002

Mercury-contaminated chemical wastewater of a mercury cell chloralkali plant was cleaned on site by a technical-scale bioremediation system. Microbial mercury reduction of soluble Hg(II) to precipitating Hg(0) decreased the mercury load of the wastewater during its flow through the bioremediation system by up to 99%. The system consisted of a packed-bed bioreactor, where most of the wastewater's mercury load was retained, and an activated carbon filter, where residual mercury was removed from the bioreactor effluent by both physical adsorption and biological reduction. In response to the oscillation of the mercury concentration in the bioreactor inflow, the zone of maximum mercury reduction oscillated regularly between the lower and the upper bioreactor horizons or the carbon filter. At low mercury concentrations, maximum mercury reduction occurred near the inflow at the bottom of the bioreactor. At high concentrations, the zone of maximum activity moved to the upper horizons. The composition of the bioreactor and carbon filter biofilms was investigated by 16S-23S ribosomal DNA intergenic spacer polymorphism analysis. Analysis of spatial biofilm variation showed an increasing microbial diversity along a gradient of decreasing mercury concentrations. Temporal analysis of the bioreactor community revealed a stable abundance of two prevalent strains and a succession of several invading mercury-resistant strains which was driven by the selection pressure of high mercury concentrations. In the activated carbon filter, a lower selection pressure permitted a steady increase in diversity during 240 days of operation and the establishment of one mercury-sensitive invader.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: GBF, Mascheroder Weg 1, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany. Phone: 49-531-6181 406. Fax: 49-531-6181 411. E-mail: harald{at}voncanstein.de.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2002, p. 1938-1946, Vol. 68, No. 4
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.4.1938-1946.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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