Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2009ND187B

Interactions Between Microorganisms and Metal Nanoparticles: A New Approach for Groundwater Remediation (Final Phase)

Institute: North Dakota
Year Established: 2009 Start Date: 2009-03-01 End Date: 2010-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $5,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,001

Principal Investigators: Achintya Bezbaruah, John McEvoy

Project Summary: The proposed research focuses on encapsulating metal nanoparticles and microorganisms in alginate capsules (reactors) and studying their interactions for the remediation of environmental contaminants using encapsulated microorganism-metal system. Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a halogenated aliphatic organic compound which, due to its unique properties and solvent effects, has been widely used as an ingredient in industrial cleaning solutions and as a universal degreasing agent. TCE, perchloroethylene (PCE), and trichloroethane (TCA) are the most frequently detected volatile organic chemicals (VOC) in ground water in the United States. The EPA has set a maximum contaminant level for trichloroethylene in drinking water at 0.005 milligrams per liter (0.005 mg/L) or 5 parts of TCE per billion parts water. Biological degradation (and possibly mineralization) of TCE remediation under anaerobic conditions has been studied for a number of years. Though individually studied, nanometals and microorganisms have not been used simultaneously in environmental remediation. In current practice, they are used separately and injected into the aquifer after necessary pretreatment. However, if the nanoparticles and microbes can be injected together, there may be considerable technology advantage and better remediation. This work hypothesizes that nanoparticles can reduce a contaminant as the first step in the degradation process and microorganism can preferentially take over the process and reduce/oxidize the degradation byproduct(s) to benign end products or vice-versa. One of the ways of delivering the microbes and the nanoparticles together is to encapsulate them in easily biodegradable biopolymers. Sodium alginate is a carbohydrate-based biopolymer, is a linear polysaccharide, consisting of variable amounts of -mannuronic acid (M) and its C5-epimer l-guluronic acid (G) linked via , 4-glycosidic bonds. Like DNA, alginate is a negatively charged polymer; imparting material properties ranging from viscous solutions to gel-like structures in the presence of divalent cations (Figure 1) (33), Calcium form a complex with sodium alginate to form a capsule. Objective of this Study

The main objective of this study is to investigate the interaction between iron nanoparticles and microbes for the groundwater contamination remediation.

1) Entrapment of microorganisms and iron nanoparticles in calcium alginate capsules.

2) Study iron nanoparticle-microorganism interactions in terms of microbial growth and their behavioral

changes. 3) Conduct degradation studies for specific contaminants (TCE).

The hypothesis in this work is that nanoparticles can reduce a contaminant as the first step in the degradation process and microorganism can preferentially take over the process and reduce/oxidize the degradation byproduct(s) to benign end products. (Or vice-versa). Further Iron will be oxidized by exposure to water within the alginate capsule releasing H+.