REDUCTION OF HEXAVALENT CHROMIUM BY PSEUDOMONAS-FLUORESCENS LB300 IN BATCH AND CONTINUOUS CULTURES

Batch and continuous cultures of Pseudomonas fluorescens LB300 were shown to reduce hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), aerobically at neutral pH (pH 7.0) with citrate as carbon and energy source. the product of Cr(VI) reduction was previously shown and confirmed in this work to be trivalent chromium, Cr(III), by quantitative reoxidation to Cr(VI) with KMnO4. In separate batch cultures (100 ml) containing initial Cr(VI) concentrations of 314.0, 200.0 and 112.5 mg Cr(VI) L(-1), the organism reduced 61%, 69% and 99.7% of the Cr(VI), respectively. In a comparison of stationary and shaken cultures, the organism reduced 81% of Cr(VI) in 147 h in stationary culture and 80% in 122 h in shaken culture. In continuous culture, the organism lowered the influent Cr(VI) concentration by 28% with an 11.7-h residence time, by 39% with a 20.8-h residence time and by 57% with a 38.5-h residence time. A mass balance of chromium in a continuous culture at steady state showed an insignificant uptake of chromium by cells of P. fluorescens LB300.