Wastewaters containing Cr(VI) are difficult to dispose in water pollution control due to the extremely toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects of Cr(VI) in biological systems. Pannonibacter phragmitetus LSSE-09, which shows great potential to reduce Cr (VI) to Cr (III), a much less toxic and less soluble valence, was previously isolated from industrial sludge by Professor LIU Huizhou’s group from Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the following work, they investigated the reducing capacity of strain LSSE-09 encapsulated in liquid-core alginate-carboxymethyl cellulose capsules.

Optimal conditions were first determined for LSSE-09 encapsulation. Under the conditions, the encapsulated LSSE-09 showed enhanced stability and facilitated recovery compared to free cells. The reduction rate of Cr (VI) to Cr (III) was high to 4.20 mg g-1(dry weight) min-1 by encapsulated LSSE-09. Meanwhile, the activity of encapsulated LSSE-09 maintained after eight repeated cycles at 37°C. This study revealed that encapsulated LSSE-09 with great advantage over its free-form had potential application in biotechnological area for Cr (VI)-contaminated wastewater treatment.

This research entitled "Encapsulation of Pannonibacter phragmitetus LSSE-09 in alginate-carboxymethyl cellulose capsules for reduction of hexavalent chromium under alkaline conditions” was published on Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology.This work was financially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2007CB613507).

CONTACT:

Prof. LIU Huizhou

Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

Tel: +86 10 6255 4264

Fax: +86 10 6255 4264

Email address: hzliu@home.ipe.ac.cn