Bioremediation of mercury using indigenous bacteria with bioreactor and artificial wetland systems

Abstract

Small scale gold mining (SSGM) Talawaan-Tatelu, North Minahasa District, North Sulawesi Province, operated since 1998, utilizes mercury in processing gold material and creates mercury waste that pollutes rivers, soil, plants, and air in the area. Sample data of 2002 to 2006 showed that there were mercury pollution in the area. Bioremediation using microbe is a more effective and efficient technology for cleaning of mercury contaminated environment. This experiment was aimed to: (1) identify, characterize and test the mercury-reducing bacteria from SSGM Talawaan-Tatelu; (2) study the ability of bioreactor and artificial wetland using the mercury-reducing bacteria from SSGM, active carbon, aquatic plant (Typha sp. and Eichornia crassipes) in reducing mercury during 6 days biofilm formation. The experiment was carried out in Indonesian Center for Biodiversity and Biotechnology (ICBB) Laboratory, Bogor. Soil sample was taken collected from SSGM Manado. The results of the experiments revealed that there were 10 superior isolates of mercury-reducing bacteria that were able to grow in Luria Bertani medium containing 500 ppm HgCl2. Those identified as Bacillus sp. group were ICBB 9116, ICBB 9118, ICBB 9121, and ICBB 9122. There were two isolates of Brevibacillus sp. group, namely ICBB 9123 and ICBB 9124; and one isolate for each of Micrococcos luteus, Pseudomonas sp, Morganella morganii, Eschericia coli were ICBB 9120, ICBB 9115, ICBB 9119, ICBB 9117, respectively. The top four highest capability of isolates in reducing mercury, are as follows i.e. ICBB 9120 can reduce 79.42% - 98.65%, ICBB 9119 (80.10% - 97.06%), ICBB 9118 (80.60% - 98.62%), and ICBB 9121 (79.15% - 98.50%). Mercury reduction capability in bioreactor using isolate ICBB 9118 was 98.89%, ICBB 9119 was 98.73%, ICBB 9120 was 99.12%, and ICBB 9121 was 99.33%. The observation results showed that Bacillus sp. ICBB 9121 had the highest capacity in reducing mercury. Typha plant, carbon active, and water hyacinth were used simultaneously with microbes within bioreactor showed their ability in reducing mercury with the level of 98.50%, 97.96%, and 96.73, respectively. The experiment results of artificial wetland reactor demonstrated that the capacity of active carbon, typha plant, and water hyacinth, in reducing mercury without microbes were 85.34%, 82.18%, and 44.25%, respectively.

Pertambangan Emas Skala Kecil (PESK) di Talawaan-Tatelu, Kabupaten Minahasa Utara, Sulawesi Utara yang mulai beroperasi 1998 menggunakan merkuri dalam memproses produk emas menghasilkan limbah merkuri yang mencemari sungai, sumur, tanah, tanaman, dan udara yang ada dilokasi dan sekitarnya. Hasil penelitian menyatakan bahwa telah terjadi pencemaran merkuri di lokasi tersebut berdasarkan data sampel tahun 2002 s/d 2006. Bioremediasi dengan menggunakan bakteri merupakan suatu teknik pembersihan lingkungan tercemar merkuri yang efektif dan efisien. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk (1) mengisolasi dan mengkarakteristik serta menguji aktivitas bakteri pereduksi merkuri tempatan asal PESK Talawaan-Tatelu; (2) mengkaji kemampuan bakteri pereduksi merkuri, arang aktif, tanaman typha dan tanaman eceng gondok menggunakan bioreaktor dalam mereduksi merkuri; (3) mengkaji kemampuan tanaman typha, tanaman eceng gondok, dan arang aktif menggunakan reaktor lahan basah buatan dalam mereduksi merkuri. Penelitian dilaksanakan di Laboratorium Bioteknologi Lingkungan Indonesian Center for Biodiversity and Biotechnology (ICBB), Bogor. Sampel tanah diambil dari PESK Talawaan-Tatelu. Isolasi dilakukan dengan metode sebar, contoh tanah diencerkan dengan larutan fisiologis (8.5 g NaCl/l) sampai dengan pengenceran 10-4, kemudian disebar pada media Luria Bertani (LB) yang mengandung 10 ppm HgC12 dan diinkubasi pada suhu 27°C selama tiga hari. Isolat yang diperoleh diseleksi berdasarkan kemampuan tumbuh pada media LB yang telah ditetesi dengan berbagai konsentrasi Hg, dikarakterisasi iv morfologi dan diidentifikasi sampai tingkat genus serta diuji aktivitas bakteri tersebut dalam mereduksi merkuri.