Real–Time Speciation of Uranium during Active Bioremediation and Reoxidation
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 2
Abstract
The biological reduction of uranium from soluble to insoluble has shown potential to prevent uranium migration in groundwater. To gain insight into the extent of uranium reduction that can occur during biostimulation and to what degree reoxidation will occur under field relevant conditions after biostimulation is terminated, X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy was used to monitor: (1) uranium speciation in situ in a flowing column while active reduction was occurring; and (2) in situ postbiostimulation uranium stability and speciation when exposed to incoming oxic water. Results show that after 70 days of bioreduction in a high bicarbonate solution, the majority of the uranium in the column was immobilized as . After acetate addition was terminated and oxic water entered the column, in situ real-time XANES analysis showed that reoxidation to (and subsequent remobilization) occurred rapidly (on the order of minutes) within the reach of the oxygen front and the spatial and temporal XANES spectra captured during reoxidation allowed for real-time uranium reoxidation rates to be calculated.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the Environmental Remediation Sciences Program (ERSP), Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grant No. DOEDE-FG02-05ER63973. The Geobacter metallireducens strain used was provided by Derek Lovley (University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass.). X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy was performed at beamline X26A at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. X26A is supported by the DOE–Geosciences (Contract No. DOEDE-FG02-92ER14244), and DOE–Office of Biological and Environmental Research, ERSD. Use of NSLS was supported by DOE under Contract No. DOEDE-AC02-98CH10886.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 2 • February 2008
Pages: 78 - 86
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Apr 11, 2007
Accepted: Aug 3, 2007
Published online: Feb 1, 2008
Published in print: Feb 2008
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