Recovery of Elemental Tellurium Nanoparticles by the Reduction of Tellurium Oxyanions in a Methanogenic Microbial Consortium

Ramos-Ruiz, Adriana; Field, Jim A.; Wilkening, Jean V.; Sierra-Álvarez, Reyes

doi:10.1021/acs.est.5b04074

Cited by 67 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…In a previous work, we studied the ability of an unadapted methanogenic consortium in granular sludge to reduce both Te oxyanions to Te 0 in batch experiments. The methanogenic consortium was found to be capable of reducing both Te species utilizing the endogenous substrates in the sludge biomass as the electron donor, and the presence of an external source of electrons, such as H 2 , had modest effects on increasing the reduction rates(Ramos-Ruiz et al, 2016a). Te IV was reduced considerably faster than Te VI (Ramos-Ruiz et al, 2016a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continuous reduction of tellurite to recoverable tellurium nanoparticles using an upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor

et al. 2017

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According to the U.S. Department of Energy and the European Union, tellurium is a critical element needed for energy and defense technology. Thus methods are needed to recover tellurium from waste streams. The objectives of this study was to determine the feasibility of utilizing upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactors to convert toxic tellurite (TeIV) oxyanions to non-toxic insoluble elemental tellurium (Te0) nanoparticles (NP) that are amendable to separation from aqueous effluents. The reactors were supplied with ethanol as the electron donating substrate to promote the biological reduction of TeIV. One reactor was additionally amended with the redox mediating flavonoid compound, riboflavin (RF), with the goal of enhancing the bioreduction of TeIV. Its performance was compared to a control reactor lacking RF. The continuous formation of Te0 NPs using the UASB reactors was found to be feasible and remarkably improved by the addition of RF. The presence of this flavonoid was previously shown to enhance the conversion rate of TeIV by approximately 11-fold. In this study, we demonstrated that this was associated with the added benefit of reducing the toxic impact of TeIV towards the methanogenic consortium in the UASB and thus enabled a 4.7-fold higher conversion rate of the chemical oxygen demand. Taken as a whole, this work demonstrates the potential of a methanogenic granular sludge to be applied as a bioreactor technology producing recoverable Te0 NPs in a continuous fashion.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continuous reduction of tellurite to recoverable tellurium nanoparticles using an upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor

et al. 2017

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“…Induction of such a system would require higher concentrations of tellurium oxyanions. In a previous work, we found that both Te oxyanions might be enzymatically reduced to insoluble Te 0 (Ramos-Ruiz et al, 2016). Batch experiments were conducted to study the biological reduction of the oxyanions using an anaerobic granular sludge like the one of this work.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…Therefore, the decreased availability of soluble Te species might potentially lead to an apparent increased tolerance of the hydrogenotrophic methanogens to both oxyanions. The formation of a black precipitate, which is characteristic of the formation of Te 0 (Baesman et al, 2007; Ramos-Ruiz et al, 2016), was observed in the bioassays.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Since the redox potential E 0 ′ (pH 7) of the pairs HTeO 4 − /HTeO 3 − and HTeO 3 − /Te 0 is 0.399 V and 0.196 V (Bouroushian, 2010), respectively, this suggests a more thermodynamically favorable formation of insoluble Te 0 species in the systems amended with H 2 than in those supplied with acetate as substrate. Furthermore, in recent experimental work, H 2 was shown to stimulate the microbial reduction of both Te oxyanions in methanogenic granular sludge; whereas acetate did not have a stimulatory effect (Ramos-Ruiz et al, 2016). Therefore, the decreased availability of soluble Te species might potentially lead to an apparent increased tolerance of the hydrogenotrophic methanogens to both oxyanions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microbial toxicity of ionic species leached from the II-VI semiconductor materials, cadmium telluride (CdTe) and cadmium selenide (CdSe)

et al. 2016

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This work investigated the microbial toxicity of soluble species that can potentially be leached from the II–VI semiconductor materials, cadmium telluride and cadmium selenide. The soluble ions tested included: cadmium, selenite, selenate, tellurite, and tellurate. Their toxicity towards the acetoclastic and hydrogen-consuming trophic groups in a methanogenic consortium as well as towards a bioluminescent marine bacterium, Aliivibrio fischeri (Microtox® test), was assessed. The acetoclastic methanogenic activity was the most affected as evidenced by the low 50% inhibiting concentrations (IC50) values obtained of 8.6 mg L−1 for both cadmium and tellurite, 10.2 mg L−1 for tellurate, and 24.1 mg L−1 for selenite. Both tellurium oxyanions caused a strong inhibition of acetoclastic methanogenesis at low concentrations, each additional increment in concentration provided progressively less inhibition increase. In the case of the hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, cadmium followed by selenite caused the greatest inhibition with IC50 values of 2.9 and 18.0 mg L−1, respectively. Tellurite caused a moderate effect as evidenced by a 36.8% inhibition of the methanogenic activity at the highest concentration tested, and a very mild effect of tellurate was observed. Microtox® analyses showed a noteworthy inhibition of cadmium, selenite, and tellurite with 50% loss in bioluminescence after 30 min of exposure of 5.5, 171.1, and 458.6 mg L−1, respectively. These results suggest that the leaching of cadmium, tellurium and selenium ions from semiconductor materials can potentially cause microbial toxicity.

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“…The primary particle size of CeO 2 NPs was determined by TEM using a Tecnai G2 Spirit Biotwin instrument operated at 100 kV as described (Ramos-Ruiz et al, 2016). Washed cells exposed to nanoparticles were pre-fixed with 2.5% glutaraldehyde overnight and then fixed with 1% osmium in 0.1M PIPES at pH 7.4 for 30 min.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cerium dioxide (CeO2) nanoparticles decrease arsenite (As(III)) cytotoxicity to 16HBE14o- human bronchial epithelial cells

Zeng

Nguyen

Boitano

et al. 2018

Environmental Research

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The production and application of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) are increasing in demand with the rapid development of nanotechnology. However, there are concerns that some of these novel materials could lead to emerging environmental and health problems. Some NPs are able to facilitate the transport of contaminants into cells/organisms via a “Trojan Horse” effect which enhances the toxicity of the adsorbed materials. In this work, we evaluated the toxicity of arsenite (As(III)) adsorbed onto cerium dioxide (CeO2) NPs to human bronchial epithelial cells (16HBE14o-) using the xCELLigence real time cell analyzing system (RTCA). Application of 0.5 mg/L As(III) resulted in 81.3% reduction of cell index (CI, an RTCA measure of cell toxicity) over 24 h when compared to control cells exposed to medium lacking As(III). However, when the cells were exposed to 0.5 mg/L As(III) in the presence of CeO2 NPs (250 mg/L), the CI was only reduced by 12.9% compared to the control. The CeO2 NPs had a high capacity for As(III) adsorption (20.2 mg/g) in the bioassay medium, effectively reducing dissolved As(III) in the aqueous solution and resulting in reduced toxicity. Transmission electron microscopy was used to study the transport of CeO2 NPs into 16HBE14o- cells. NP uptake via engulfment was observed and the internalized NPs accumulated in vesicles. The results demonstrate that dissolved As(III) in the aqueous solution was the decisive factor controlling As(III) toxicity of 16HBE14o- cells, and that CeO2 NPs effectively reduced available As(III) through adsorption. These data emphasize the evaluation of mixtures when assaying toxicity.

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Recovery of Elemental Tellurium Nanoparticles by the Reduction of Tellurium Oxyanions in a Methanogenic Microbial Consortium

Cited by 67 publications

References 51 publications

Continuous reduction of tellurite to recoverable tellurium nanoparticles using an upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor

Continuous reduction of tellurite to recoverable tellurium nanoparticles using an upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor

Microbial toxicity of ionic species leached from the II-VI semiconductor materials, cadmium telluride (CdTe) and cadmium selenide (CdSe)

Cerium dioxide (CeO2) nanoparticles decrease arsenite (As(III)) cytotoxicity to 16HBE14o- human bronchial epithelial cells

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