Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2002CA3B

Perchlorate Removal in Groundwater Using Immobilized Cell-Free, Purified and Recombinant Perchlorate Reductases from the Perchlorate Respiring Bacterium, Perclace

Institute: California
Year Established: 2002 Start Date: 2002-03-01 End Date: 2003-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $20,653 Total Non-Federal Funds: $28,100

Principal Investigators: William Frankenberger, Jr.

Project Summary: William T. Frankenberger is PI on this project Dr. William T. Frankenberger Environmental Science, Riverside campus email: william.frankenberger@ucr.edu phone: 909-787-2954 Dr. Frankenbergen will share with 4 other PIs from California in the award distribution. Microbial reduction of perchlorate to environmentally-acceptable innocuous end products is currently an area of intense interest. Although various microorganisms have been shown to reduce perchlorate and chlorate, to either chlorite or completely to chloride and molecular oxygen, there is limited biochemical and molecular data on the enzyme systems involved in perchlorate reduction. Such data would provide important information for the design and application of an efficient biological-based ground water remediation strategy for perchlorate. This project will evaluate perchlorate reduction by cell-free extracts of Perclace in aqueous batch experiments. Data achieved from thie experiments would be useful for field-scale studies of groundwater treatment. The use of a cell-free enzyme system for perchlorate reduction would help avert the need for a post-reactor to destroy biomass in the effluent.