BOZEMAN, Mont., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists report finding a never-before-seen bacterium that might help clean up some of humanity's pollution.
Brent Peyton, a Montana State University chemical engineering professor and colleagues are preparing three scientific papers describing the unique qualities of Halomonas campisalis -- a bacterium Peyton discovered in 1995 on salt flats near Soap Lake, Wash.
Water seeping through the flats finds its way into the lake, carrying salt with it. It was in those flats that Peyton collected some mud in 1995 and found the bacterium is perfect for the treatment of salty, nitrate-bearing wastewater; it eats nitrates and then secrets nitrogen as waste.
"You could pour that salty wastewater in a tank with Halomonas campisalis, add sugar or vinegar for food and let it perk away to create nitrogen," Peyton said.
The discovery might sound simple, Peyton noted, but it's taken years of painstaking laboratory work to grow, identify and characterize all the unique capabilities of Halomonas campisalis.
He said it might take years more for the bacterium to be turned into an industrial process -- something Peyton hopes a company will attempt in the future.
