The Elimination of Heavy Metal Ions from Waters by Biogenic Iron Sulphides

Abstract

Water pollution by heavy metals represent today important environmental problem because increased concentrations of them are dangerous for all living organisms. Biogenic iron sulphides produced by sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) represent material, which can be suitable for heavy metals sorption from waters. Hydrogen sulphide as a product of SRB metabolic processes creates with iron from nutrient medium biogenic sorbent in form of sulphides. The process of sorbent preparation was realized in the batch reactor during 21 days at 30 °C in anaerobic conditions. The culture of sulphate-reducing bacteria was isolated from the mineral spring Gajdovka (Košice, Slovakia) using Postgate C medium. The elimination of heavy metals from waters was examined using the prepared sorbent samples, model solutions with various zinc ions contents and mine drainage water samples from locality Banská Štiavnica (Slovakia).