Date of Award
8-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Committee Member
Dr. Kevin Finneran, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Dr. Brian Powell
Committee Member
Dr. Christophe Darnault
Abstract
Microbial interactions with radionuclides in the environment are multi-faceted and play an important role on the fate and the extent of transport of these metals within the biosphere. Understanding how these biotic interactions affect radionuclides could prove useful in developing more suitable waste containment facilities and improve the overall risk management strategies at legacy waste sites around the world. This study investigates two microbial interactions with these metals: biosorption and bioreduction. To elucidate the impact of biosorption on uranium and cesium, active and inactive biomass were analyzed using batch sorption experiments in the presence of complexing ligands, EDTA and citrate, to determine whether whole cells or cell lysate increased sorption. Results demonstrated systems without soil showed a decrease in free aqueous uranium with biomass present in EDTA. Adding a second complexing ligand decreased the amount of biosorption to active biomass, but not inactive biomass. With soil present in the system, biomass increased the sorption of uranium to the soil regardless of the complexing ligand. In contrast, cesium was unaffected by the biomass and complexing ligands due to its affinity to sorption sites associated with the soil. Therefore, remedial strategies incorporating biomass as biosorbents increase the retention of uranium but have no effect on cesium. Further, the transformation of U(VI) to U(IV) via bioreduction was studied to quantify the rate and extent of U(VI) reduction using various electron donors. Re-oxidation of U(IV) experiments followed in the presence of nitrate or oxygen to determine the long-term viability of bioreduction as a remedial strategy for treating groundwater contaminated with uranyl carbonate. Results showed the various electron donors tested were sufficient to allow bioreduction of U(VI) to U(IV). However, re-oxidation occurred on the magnitude of days in the presence of oxygen or nitrate. Therefore, bioreduction of uranium as a remedial strategy does not offer long-term solutions for groundwater contaminated with uranyl carbonate.
Recommended Citation
Hennessy, Sarah Tandy, "Biosorption and Bioreduction's Impact on the Mobility of Uranium and Cesium" (2017). All Theses. 2699.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/2699