Abstract
Previously it was demonstrated that bacteria are capable of transforming soluble uranyl ion, U(VI), to insoluble uraninite, U(IV); however, the rate for this transformation has not been determined. We report the kinetic coefficients for Desulfovibrio desulfuricans DSM 1924 grown in a continuous-flow chemostat where pyruvate was the electron donor and sulfate was the electron acceptor. The medium was supplemented with 1 mM uranyl nitrate, and the chemostat flow rate ranged from 1.12 ml/h to 4.75 ml/h with incubation at 28°C. The maximum rate of pyruvate utilization (k) was determined to be 4.7 days-1, while the half-velocity constant (K s) was 127 mg/l. The yield coefficient (Y) of cells per mole of pyruvate oxidized was calculated to be 0.021 g, while the endogenous decay coefficient (k d) was determined to be 0.072 days-1. More than 90% of U(VI) was transformed to U(VI) in the chemostat under the conditions employed.
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Received: 7 September 1995/Received last revision: 10 January 1996/Accepted: 5 February 1996
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Tucker, M., Barton, L. & Thomson, B. Kinetic coefficients for simultaneous reduction of sulfate and uranium by Desulfovibrio desulfuricans . Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 46, 74–77 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002530050785
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002530050785