Soluble and Solid Iron Reduction Assays with Desulfitobacterium hafniense
Lucrezia Comensoli,
Julien Maillard,
Wafa Kooli,
Pilar Junier,
Edith Joseph
Affiliations
Lucrezia Comensoli
Laboratory of Microbiology, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, SwitzerlandLaboratory of Technologies for Heritage Materials, Institute of Chemistry, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Present address: Laboratory of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
Julien Maillard
Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, ENAC-IIE-LBE, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Wafa Kooli
Laboratory of Microbiology, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, SwitzerlandLaboratory of Technologies for Heritage Materials, Institute of Chemistry, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Pilar Junier
Laboratory of Microbiology, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Edith Joseph
Laboratory of Technologies for Heritage Materials, Institute of Chemistry, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, SwitzerlandHaute Ecole Arc Conservation-Restauration, HES-SO, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
There is a pressing need to develop sustainable and efficient methods to protect and stabilize iron objects. To develop a conservation-restoration method for corroded iron objects, this bio-protocol presents the steps to investigate reductive dissolution of ferric iron and biogenic production of stabilizing ferrous iron minerals in the strict anaerobe Desulfitobacterium hafniense (strains TCE1 and LBE). We investigated iron reduction using three different Fe(III) sources: Fe(III)-citrate (a soluble phase), akaganeite (solid iron phase), and corroded coupons. This protocol describes a method that combines spectrophotometric quantification of the complex Fe(II)-Ferrozine® with mineral characterization by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. These three methods allow assessing reductive dissolution of ferric iron and biogenic mineral production as a promising alternative for the development of an innovative sustainable method for the stabilization of corroded iron.
