Abstract
The removal of mercuric chloride and methylmercury from a culture medium and a fish broth was examined by using 20 methylmercury-volatilizing Alteromonas strains isolated from the seawater of Minamata Bay. The highest removable concentrations for the bacterial volatilization of mercuric chloride (HgCl2) and methylmercuric chloride (CH3HgCl) were 40μg/ml and 2μg/ml, respectively. The maximum volatilization percentages for 40μg/ml HgCl2 and 2μg/ml CH3HgCl were 54.7 and 96.7, respectively. The volatilization percentages for CH3HgCl by these strains were significantly higher than those for HgCl2. The removal of methylmercury in the fish broth was examined with a laboratory column packed by methylmercury-volatilizing Alteromonas macledii strain 10 immobilized with -carrageenan beads. More than 75% of mercury was removed from the fish broth containing 1μg / ml of methylmercury in 19 hrs. It seems that the immobilized cell application is effective to remove methylmercury from a drainage of fish processing plant.
