Patent ID: 8425775

Claim:
A method of treating metal-containing wastewater, comprising: at a hydraulic fracturing site, forming a site-specific reaction vessel by: adding soil that has been exposed to flow back fracture fluid at the site into a transportable chamber containing a plurality of retaining structures, and cycling flow back fracture fluid from the site through the chamber a plurality of times until a biofilm forms on and at least partially covers the retaining structures; modifying the biofilm to include a unique identifier that will be reproduced as the biofilm reproduces in the chamber; introducing an additional amount of flow back fracture fluid from the site into the reaction vessel; holding the additional amount of the fluid in the vessel for a time sufficient for the biofilm to treat the additional amount of the fluid by removing one or more of the following metals from the fluid and containing the metal in the biofilm: cadmium, iron, nickel, radium, uranium, cobalt, lead, manganese or arsenic; and reusing the treated fluid at the site.