Patent ID: 8425776

Claim:
A method of treating metal-containing wastewater, comprising: at a site that has been exposed to metals-containing wastewater, forming a site-specific reaction vessel by: adding soil that has been exposed to the wastewater into a transportable chamber containing a plurality of retaining structures, and cycling metals-containing wastewater from the site through the chamber a plurality of times until a biofilm forms on and at least partially covers the retaining structures, introducing an additional amount of metals-containing wastewater from the site into the reaction vessel, holding the wastewater in the vessel for a time sufficient for the biofilm to treat the water by removing one or more of the following metals from the water and containing the metal in the biofilm: cadmium, iron, nickel, radium, uranium, cobalt, lead, manganese or arsenic reusing the treated water at the site; and after a plurality of wastewater treatment cycles have completed: destroying the biofilm by introducing a biocide into the reaction vessel; recovering metals from the vessel; regenerating the biofilm by repeating the steps of adding soil to the chamber and cycling metals-containing wastewater into the chamber; and treating an additional amount of the wastewater in the vessel for a time sufficient for the biofilm to remove one or more of the metals from the wastewater.