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Arsenic Removal and Transformation by Pseudomonas sp. Strain GE-1-Induced Ferrihydrite: Co-precipitation Versus Adsorption

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Abstract

Hundreds of millions of people are at risk from drinking arsenic (As)-contaminated groundwater in the world, making As removal from aquatic systems of utmost importance. However, characteristics of As removal by bacteria-induced ferrihydrite and coupled with redox processes are still not clear. Two-line ferrihydrite was formed in the presence of aerobic Fe(II)-oxidizing bacterium, Pseudomonas sp. strain GE-1. Arsenic co-precipitation with and adsorption onto ferrihydrite induced by Pseudomonas sp. strain GE-1 and redox processes of As were investigated. Results demonstrated that co-precipitation performed better in As(V) removal than As(III) removal, while adsorption showed higher capacity for As(III) removal. X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) indicated that As(III) oxidation occurred in solid phases during co-precipitation and adsorption. Detection of As species in solution showed that As(V) was reduced to As(III) during co-precipitation, although no As(V) reduction occurred during adsorption. Arsenic immobilization by Pseudomonas sp. strain GE-1-induced ferrihydrite in the presence of the strains may be applied as an alternative remediation strategy.

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Acknowledgments

The study is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41222020 and 41172224), the National Key Basic Research Development Program (973 Program, No. 2010CB428804), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2652013028), and the Fok Ying-Tung Education Foundation, China (Grant No. 131017). The authors would like to thank the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Beamline BL15U) and its staff (X.H. Yu and A.G. Li) for allowing us to perform the XANES analysis. Dr. G.H. Shi is much acknowledged for his help in FTIR analysis. Dr. Michael Kersten is much acknowledged for his constructive comments which significantly improved the quality of the manuscript.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Xiu & Huaming Guo

  2. School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Xiu, Huaming Guo, Qiong Liu, Zeyun Liu, Yan’e Zou & Baogang Zhang

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  1. Wei Xiu
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Correspondence to Huaming Guo.

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Xiu, W., Guo, H., Liu, Q. et al. Arsenic Removal and Transformation by Pseudomonas sp. Strain GE-1-Induced Ferrihydrite: Co-precipitation Versus Adsorption. Water Air Soil Pollut 226, 167 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-015-2408-4

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