Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T01:32:08.186Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Microbial degradation of isosaccharinic acid under conditions representative for the far field of radioactive waste disposal facilities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Gina Kuippers ,
Naji Milad Bassil ,
Christopher Boothman ,
Nicholas Bryan  and
Jonathan R. Lloyd
Gina Kuippers*
Affiliation:
Research Centre for Radwaste and Decommissioning & Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Naji Milad Bassil
Affiliation:
Research Centre for Radwaste and Decommissioning & Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Christopher Boothman
Affiliation:
Research Centre for Radwaste and Decommissioning & Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Nicholas Bryan
Affiliation:
National Nuclear Laboratory, Chadwick House, Birchwood, Warrington WA3 6AE, UK
Jonathan R. Lloyd
Affiliation:
Research Centre for Radwaste and Decommissioning & Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

It is UK Government policy to dispose of higher activity radioactive waste through geological disposal into an engineered deep underground geological disposal facility (GDF; DECC, 2014). Those wastes include low-level (LLW) and intermediate-level (ILW) radioactive wastes that are very heterogeneous, containing a range of inorganic and organic materials, the latter including cellulosic items. After closure of the GDF, eventual resaturation with groundwater is expected, resulting in the development of a hyperalkaline environment due to the proposed use of a cementitious backfill. Under these high-pH conditions, cellulose is unstable and will be degraded chemically, forming a range of water-soluble, low molecular weight compounds, of which the most abundant is isosaccharinic acid (ISA). As ISA is known to form stable soluble complexes with a range of radionuclides, thereby increasing the chance of radionuclide transport, the impact of microbial metabolism on this organic substrate was investigated to help determine the role of microorganisms in moderating the transport of radionuclides from a cementitious GDF. Anaerobic biodegradation of ISA has been studied recently in high-pH cementitious ILW systems, but less work has been done under anaerobic conditions at circumneutral conditions, more representative of the geosphere surrounding a GDF. Here we report the fate of ISA in circumneutral microcosms poised under aerobic and anaerobic conditions; the latter with nitrate, Fe(III) or sulfate added as electron acceptors. Data are presented confirming the metabolism of ISA under these conditions, including the direct oxidation of ISA under aerobic and nitrate-reducing conditions and the fermentation of ISA to acetate, propionate and butyrate prior to utilization of these acids during Fe(III) and sulfate reduction. The microbial communities associated with these processes were characterized using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. Methane production was also quantified in these experiments, and the added electron acceptors were shown to play a significant role in minimizing methanogenesis from ISA and its breakdown products.

Keywords

isosaccharinic acidcomplexradionuclide mobilitybiodegradationnuclear wastegeological disposal
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 79 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 1443 - 1454
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2015. This is an open access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2015

References

Askarieh, M.M., Chambers, A.V., Daniel, F.B.D., FitzGerald, P.L., Holtom, G.J., Pilkington, N.J. and Rees, J.H. (2000) The chemical and microbial degradation of cellulose in the near field of a repository for radioactive wastes. Waste Management, 20, 93–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, M. J. (1986) Utilization of glucoisosaccharinic acid by a bacterial isolate unable to metabolize glucose. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 24, 493–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bassil, N.M., Bryan, N. and Lloyd, J.R. (2014) Microbial degradation of isosaccharinic acid at high pH. The ISME Journal, 1-11.Google Scholar
Bond, K.A. and Tweed, C.J. (1995) Groundwater compositions for the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, boreholes 2, 4 and RCF3, Sellafield, evaluated using thermodynamic modelling. Nirex, NSSlR397.Google Scholar
Booth, W (1987) Postmortem on Three Mile Island. Science, 238, 1342–1345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradbury, M.H. and Sarott, F.A. (1995) Sorption databases for the cementitious near-field of a L/ILW repository for performance assessment. PSI-Bericht 95-06; Paul Scherrer Institute: Villigen, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Brown, A.R., Wincott, P.L., LaVerne, J.A., Small, J.S., Vaughan, D.J., Pimblott, S.M. and Lloyd, J.R. (2014) The impact of ionizing radiation on the bioavailability of Fe(III) minerals for microbial respiration. Environmental Science & Technology, 48, 10672–10680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caporaso, J.G., Stombaugh, J., Costello, E.K., Lozupone, C.A. et al. (2010) QIIME allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing data. Nature Methods, 7, 335–336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cole, J.R., Wang, Q., Cardenas, E., Fish, J., Chai, B., Farris, R.J., Kulam-Syed-Mohideen, A.S., McGarrell, D.M., Marsh, T., Garrity, G.M. andTiedje, J.M. (2009) The Ribosomal Database Project: improved align-ments and new tools for rRNA analysis. Nucleic Acids Research, 37, D141-D145.Google Scholar
DECC (2014) Implementing Geological Disposal; A framework for the long-term management of higher activity radioactive waste. URN 14D/235. Department of Energy & Climate Change, London.Google Scholar
Edgar, R.C. (2010) Search and clustering orders of magnitude faster than BLAST. Bioinformatics, 26, 2460–2461.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gaona, X., Montoya, V. , Colas, E., Grive, M. andDuro, L. (2008) Review of the complexation of tetravalent actinides by ISA and gluconate under alkaline to hyperalkaline conditions. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 102, 217–227.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glaus, M.A. and van Loon, L.R. (2008) Degradation of cellulose under alkaline conditions: New insights from a 12 years degradation study. Environmental Science & Technology, 42, 2906–2911.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glaus, M.A., van Loon, L.R., Achatz, S., Chodura, A. and Fischer, K. (1999) Degradation of cellulosic materials under the alkaline conditions of a cementitious repository for low and intermediate level radioactive waste part I: Identification of degradation products. Analytica Chimica Acta, 398, 111–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knill, C.J. and Kennedy, J.F. (2003) Degradation of cellulose under alkaline conditions. Carbohydrate Polymers, 51, 281–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lane, D. (1991) 16S/23S rRNA sequencing. Pp. 115-175 in: Nucleic Acid Techniques in Bacterial Systematics (E. Stackelbrandt and M. Goodfellow, editors). John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK.Google Scholar
Lloyd, J.R. (2003) Microbial reduction of metals and radionuclides. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 27, 411–425.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lloyd, J.R. and Macaskie, L.E. (2000) Bioremediation of radioactive metals. Pp. 277–327 in: Environmental Microbe-Metal Interactions (D.R. Lovley, editor). ASM Press.Google Scholar
Lovley, D.R. and Phillips, E.J.P. (1987) Rapid assay for microbially reducible ferric iron in aquatic sediments. Applied Environmental Microbiology, 53, 1536–1540.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lovley, D.R., Greening, R.C. and Ferry, J.G. (1984) Rapidly growing rumen mathanogenic organism that synthesizes coenzyme-M and has a high-affinity for formate. Appied. Environmental Microbiology, 48, 81–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lovley, D.R., Stolz, J.F., Nord, G.L. and Phillips, E.J.P. (1987) Anaerobic production of magnetite by a dissimilatory iron-reducing microorganism. Nature, 330, 252–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metcalfe, R., Crawford, M.B., Bath, A.H., Littleboy, A. K, Degnan, P.J. and Richards, H.G. (2007) Characteristics of deep groundwater flow in a asin marginal setting at Sellafield, Nothwest England: 36Cl and halide evidence. Applied Geochemistry, 22, 128–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mozdyniewicz, D.J., Nieminen, K. and Sixta, H. (2013) Alkaline steeping of dissolving pulp. Part I: cellulose degradation kinetics. Cellulose, 20, 1437–1451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muyzer, G., Teske, A., Wirsen, C.O., Jannasch, H.W. (1995) Phylogenetic relationships of Thiomicrospira species and their identification in deep-sea hydrother-mal vent samples by denaturing gradient gel electro-phoresis of 16S rDNA fragments. Archives of Microbiology, 164, 165–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NDA (2010) Geological Disposal; Near-field Evolution Status Report. NDA/RWMD, 033, Didcot, UK, 59-62.Google Scholar
Pavasars, I., Hagberg, J., Borén, H. and Allard, B. (2003) Alkaline degradation of cellulose: Mechanisms and kinetics. Journal of Polymers and the Environment, 11, 39–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rai, D., Hess, N.J., Xia, Y., Rao, L., Cho, H.M., Moore, R.C. and van Loon, L.R. (2003) Comprehensive thermodynamic model applicable to highly acidic to basic conditions for isosaccharinate reactions with Ca(II) and Np(IV). Journal of Solution Chemistry, 32, 665–689.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rizoulis, A., Steele, H.M., Morris, K and Lloyd, J.R. (2012) The potential impact of anaerobic microbial metabolism during the disposal of intermediate-level waste. Mineralogical Magazine, 76, 3261–3270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, Q.R., Ran, W. and Cao, Z.H. (2003) Mechanisms of nitrite accumulation occurring in soil nitrification. Chemosphere, 50, 747–753.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strand, S.E., Dykes, J. and Chiang, V (1986) Aerobic microbial degradation of glucoisosaccharinic acid. Applied Environmental Microbiology, 47, 268–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorpe, C.L., Law, G.T.W., Boothman, C., Lloyd, J.R., Burke, I.T and Morris, K (2012). The synergistic effects of high nitrate concentrations on sediment bioreduction. Geomicrobiology Journal, 29, 484–493.Google Scholar
Tits, J., Wieland, E. and Bradbury, M.H. (2005) The effect of isosaccharinic acid and gluconic acid on the retention of Eu(III), Am(III) and Th(IV) by calcite. Applied Geochemistry, 20, 2082–2096.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Loon, L.R. and Glaus, M.A. (1998) Experimental and theoretical studies on alkaline degradation of cellulo-seandits impact on the sorption of radionuclides; PSI Bericht, 98-07; Paul Scherrer Institut: Villigen, Switzerland. Also published as: Van Loon, L.R. and Glaus, M.A. (1998) NTB, 97-04; Nagra: Wettingen, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Van Loon, L.R., Glaus, M., Stallone, S. and Laube, A. (1997) Sorption of isosaccharinic acid, a cellulose degradation product, on cement. Research Communications, Environmental Sciences & Technology, 31, 1243–1245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Loon, L.R., Glaus, M.A., Laube, A. and Stallone, S. (1999) Degradation of cellulosic materials under the alkaline conditions of a cementitious repository for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste. Part II: Degradation kinetics. Journal for Environmental Polymer Degradation, 7, 41–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vercammen, K., Glaus, M.A. and van Loon, L.R. (1999) Complexation of calcium by alpha-isosaccharinic acid under alkaline conditions. Acta Chemica Scandinavica, 53, 241–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vercammen, K., Glaus, M.A. and van Loon, L.R. (2001) Complexation of Th(IV) and Eu(III) by α-isosacchari-nic acid under alkaline conditions. Radiochimica Acta, 89, 393–01.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warwick, P., Evans, N., Hall, T. and Vines, S. (2003) Complexation of Ni(II) by α-isosaccharinic acid and gluconic acid from pH 7 to pH 13. Radiochimica Acta, 91, 233–240.Google Scholar
Warwick, P., Evans, N., Hall, T. and Vines, S. (2004) Stability constants of uranium(IV)-α-isosaccharinic acid and gluconic acid complexes. Radiochimica Acta, 92, 897–902.Google Scholar
Whistler, R.L. and BeMiller, J.N. (1958) Alkaline degradation of polysaccharides. Advances in Carbohydrate Chemistry, 13, 289–329.Google ScholarPubMed
Willems, A., Busse, J., Goor, M., Pot, B., Falsen, E., Jantzen, E., Hoste, B., Gillis, M., Kersters, K., Auling, G. and De Ley, I (1989). Hydrogeneophaga a new genus of hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria that includes Hydrogenophaga flava comb. nov. (formerly Pseudomonas flava), Hydrogenophaga palleronii (for merly Pseudomonas palleronii, Hydrogenophaga pseudoflava (formerly Pseudomonas pseudoflava and “Pseudomonas carboxydoflava“), and Hydrogenophaga taeniospialis (formerly Pseudomonas taeniospiralis). International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology, 39, 319–333.Google Scholar
Williamson, A.J., Morris, K., Shaw, S., Byrne, J.M., Boothman, C. and Lloyd, J.R. (2013) Microbial reduction of Fe(III) under alkaline conditions relevant to geological disposal. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 79, 3320–3326.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed