PNNL

Abstract

Microbial reduction of iron has been shown to be important in the transformation and remediation of contaminated sediments. Re-oxidation of microbially reduced iron may occur in sediments that experience oxidation-reduction cycling and can thus impact the extent of contaminant remediation. The purpose of this research was to quantify iron oxidation in a flow-through column filled with biologically-reduced sediment and to compare the iron phases in the re-oxidized sediment to both the pristine and biologically-reduced sediment. The sediment contained both Fe(III)-oxides (primarily goethite) and silicate Fe (illite/vermiculite) and was biologically reduced in phosphate buffered (PB) medium during a 497 day column experiment with acetate supplied as the electron donor. Long-term iron reduction resulted in partial reduction of silicate Fe(III) without any goethite reduction, based on Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements. This reduced sediment was treated with an oxygenated PB solution in a flow-through column resulting in the oxidation of 38% of the biogenic Fe(II). Additional batch experiments showed that the Fe(III) in the oxidized sediment was more quickly reduced compared to the pristine sediment, indicating that oxidation of the sediment not only regenerated Fe(III) but also enhanced iron reduction compared to the pristine sediment. Oxidation-reduction cycling may be a viable method to extend iron-reducing conditions during in-situ bioremediation.