Selectivity in the heavy metal removal by exopolysaccharide-producing cyanobacteria

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2008

Authors

Micheletti, E (Author) Other; Colica, G (Author) Other; Viti, C (Author) Other; Tamagnini, P (Author) FCUP; De Philippis, R (Author) Other

Journal

Title: JOURNAL OF APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY

Vol. 105

Pages: 88-94

ISSN: 1364-5072

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 76 Citations

Scopus - 90 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Natural sciences > Biological sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-003-Y4C

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.2008.03728.x

Abstract (EN): Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the selective removal of Cu(II), Cr(III) and Ni(II) by strains of exopolysaccharide (EPS)-producing cyanobacteria, and to investigate the interaction of sorption in solutions with multiple-metals. Methods and Results: Nine EPS-producing cyanobacteria were tested for their ability to remove Cr, Cu and Ni in both single- and multiple-metal solutions. In the single-metal solutions, some of the strains showed very high values of metal uptake, however, only two of them showed the capability to selectively remove one or two of the metals present in the multiple-metal solutions. In multi-metal systems, the binding process was either noninteractive, synergistic or competitive between metal ions for different strains of cyanobacteria. Conclusions: Cyanothece 16Som 2 showed significantly greater sorptive capacity for Cu (1.5-20x) and Cr (2-50x) than all other strains tested. The Nostoc PCC 7936 strain showed high specific and almost exclusive selectivity towards Cu, which suggests its use aimed at recovering this metal from multiple-metal solutions. Significance and Impact of the Study: To find out microbial sorbents with good metal selectivity may be very useful for building up processes aimed to recover valuable metals from industrial wastewaters.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 7