Biodegradation of perchlorate from real and synthetic effluent by Proteobacterium ARJR SMBS in a stirred tank bioreactor system.

The present work is a laboratory-scale study of perchlorate degradation using Proteobacterium ARJR SMBS in a stirred tank bioreactor (STBR). Anaerobically grown cultures of ARJR SMBS exposed to a variety of ClO4(-) levels within the range 30 to 150 mg L(-1) under anoxic conditions have been studied. The chloride released was measured and the average value found to be 43.55 mg L(-1). The average daily value of perchlorate degradation rate in this system was 17.24 mg L(-1) at optimum pH 7.5 and 0.25% NaCl salinity. The mixed liquor suspension solids of the system gradually increased from 0.025-0.156 g L(-1) during the operating period of 55 days. Mass balance indicated that the chloride produced was 0.45 mole per mole of perchlorate. The salinity of the system varied from 2.50-18.46 g L(-1), dependent primarily upon the inlet perchlorate concentration. The degradation mechanism, which obeyed a first-order substrate-utilizing kinetic model, allowed the growth rates and the half-saturation constants to be determined. The maximum observed anoxic growth rates (0.83-1.2 h(-1)) for ARJR SMBS in a synthetic effluent (SE) were considerably higher than in real effluent (RE) (0.45-0.59 h(-1)). The biomass yield of ARJR SMBS in STBR was higher in SE (1 +/- 0.4 mg L(-1)) than in RE (1 +/- 0.1 mg L(-1)). From the experimental findings, the uptake of perchlorate by the bacterium is suggested to be a non-interfacially-based mechanism. Under steady state operating condition the performance of the reactor was comparatively lower for RE than for SE but still offers significant control over the degradation of perchlorate under full-scale conditions.