9410363 Nies This is an award to provide support for a project, the overall objective of which is to study interactions of reductive dechlorination of chlorinated organic compounds and the biomethylation of metals mediated by microbial coenzymes. The investigator plans on doing this in three overlapping periods, the initial one of which will characterize the experimental conditions under which methylation of metals like mercury occurs in a defined chemical system. He then plans on examining the methylation of metals when combined with reductive dechlorination under similarly defined chemical conditions followed by determination of the rates at which these processes occur individually and combined in anaerobic sediments. The decontamination of air, water, soil, sediments and sludges containing mixtures of pollutants, each of which requires a different removal or transformation procedure, poses a special problem in the engineering design of processes and systems that are aimed at restoration of the useful qualities of the contaminated media. Results will provide guidance for engineering design of processes to decontaminate environmental media contaminated by mixtures of heavy metals and chlorinated organic compounds. The proposal leading to this award was submitted in accord with NSF 92-122, Research Initiation Awards Program. ***
