K. Sulzbacher et al., ANAEROBIC REDUCTION OF HEXAVALENT CHROMIUM IN FILTER SLUDGE OF AN ELECTROCHEMICAL PROCESS, Environmental technology, 18(3), 1997, pp. 301-307
The potential of an anaerobic system to remediate hexavalent chromium
containing waste was investigated. Experiments were performed at labor
atory scale in the batch mode. The variables studied were the concentr
ations of waste, of inoculum, of yeast as an additional carbon source,
of sulfate and the initial pH. The gas development, the final pH and
the final concentrations of hexavalent and total chromium were measure
d. The evaluation was based on Multivariate data analysis. It could be
shown that a remediation is possible. The influence of pH and sulfate
were negligible in the given range. High yeast concentrations and low
waste concentrations were favorable for a strong gas development and
a complete elimination of chromate. Possible mechanisms are the active
reduction of chromate by the microorganisms, its use as electron acce
ptor in bacterial respiration, and its sorption on organic material. E
specially the last explanation is strongly supported by the experiment
s.