Bioremediation of a polymetallic, arsenic-dominated reverse osmosis reject stream

The treatment of metal-laden industrial effluents by reverse osmosis is gaining in popularity worldwide due to its high performance. However, this process generates a polymetallic concentrate (retentate) stream in need of efficient post-treatment prior to environmental discharge. This paper presents results on the bioremediation (in batch mode) of a metal-laden, arsenic-dominated retentate using Shewanella sp. O23S as inoculum. The incubation of the retentate for 14 days under anoxic conditions resulted in the following removal yields: As (8%), Co (11%), Mo (3%), Se (62%), Sb (30%) and Zn (40%). The addition of 1 mmol l^-1 cysteine increased the removal rate as follows: As (27%), Co (80%), Mo (78%), Se (88%), Sb (83%) and Zn (90%). The contribution of cysteine as a source of H₂ S to enhancing the removal yield was confirmed by its addition after 7 days of incubations initially lacking it. Additionally, the cysteine-sourced H₂ S was confirmed by its capture onto headspace-mounted Pb-acetate test strips that were analysed by X-ray diffraction. We show that real metal-laden industrial effluents can be treated to medium-to-high efficiency using a biological system (naturally sourced inocula) and inexpensive reagents (yeast extract, lactate and cysteine).