Chromium(III) and Chromium(VI) Circulation in Aquatic Biocenoses

Abstract

Abstract The cumulation of chromium(III) and (VI) has been studied in batch cultures of planktonic algae Microcystis incerta, Scedenesmus obliquus, Chlorella kessleri and Chlamydomonas geitleri at different chromium and algal cells concentrations. It has been found that chromium(VI) is practically not cumulated in algae, whereas chromium(III) is very rapidly cumulated in all types of algae investigated. The cumulation factor increases with the decrease of the radius of algae cells and it reaches the value of 10 6 for Microcystis incerta even after a few hours of contact. The kinetics, the cumulation factors and the capacity of algae to cumulate chromium(III) is practically the same for living as well as for dead cells and therefore it can be concluded that the cumulation of chromium(III) is due predominantly to the chemical sorption on the surface of algal cells.