104B State Water Resources Research Institute Scope 1: Selenium removal by biological processes in water supplies

This study will investigate microbial reduction of selenium in bioreactor systems using pure cultures of selenium-reducing E. coli strain EWB32213. The proposed research will reveal the potential for selenium reduction and recovery of bioreactor systems under a variety of environment factors and in the presence of selenium co-contaminants typically found in coal mining and coal processing activities. Results obtained with the batch experiments will be used to develop kinetic expressions for selenium reduction. Continuous-flow reactor experiments will be analyzed to obtain optimum operating conditions for selenium removal and recovery from aqueous environments.