Biodegradation of thiocyanate in groundwater by a native aquifer microbial consortium
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Bioengineering, Microbiology, Environmental Contamination and Remediation
- Keywords
- bioremediation, thiocyanate, mining, contamination, microorganisms, groundwater, geomicrobiology, sulfur-oxidation
- Copyright
- © 2018 Spurr et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2018. Biodegradation of thiocyanate in groundwater by a native aquifer microbial consortium. PeerJ Preprints 6:e3503v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.3503v1
Abstract
Gold ore processing typically generates large amounts of thiocyanate (SCN-)-contaminated effluent. When this effluent is stored in unlined tailings dams, contamination of the underlying aquifer can occur. The potential for bioremediation of SCN--contaminated groundwater, either in situ or through ex situ, remains largely unexplored. This study aimed to enrich and characterise SCN--degrading microorganisms from mining-contaminated groundwater under a range of culturing conditions. Mildly acidic and suboxic groundwater, containing ~135 mgL-1 SCN-, was collected from an aquifer below an unlined tailings dam. An SCN--degrading consortium was enriched from contaminated groundwater using combinatory amendments of air, glucose and phosphate. Biodegradation occurred in all oxic cultures, except with the sole addition of glucose, but was inhibited by NH4+ and did not occur under anoxic conditions. The SCN--degrading consortium was characterised using 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequencing, identifying a variety of heterotrophic taxa in addition to sulfur-oxidising bacteria. Interestingly, few recognised SCN--degrading taxa were identified in significant abundance. These results provide both proof-of-concept and the required conditions for biostimulation of SCN- degradation in groundwater by native aquifer microorganisms.
Author Comment
This is a submission to PeerJ for review.
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