Bioleaching and bioprecipitation of nickel and iron from laterites

Abstract: Leaching of silicate ores, particularly nickel laterites, with the aid of heterotrophic organisms has been briefly reviewed. Samples of laterite ores from Greece were characterised mineralogically and a number of microorganisms isolated from them. One of these organisms (code FI) was successfully acclimatized to 6400 ppm nickel. Samples of the high-grade Greek Kastoria nickel laterite were leached with sulphuric acid and a number of organic acids. Sulphuric and citric acids extracted over 60 and 40% of the contained nickel, respectively, but the other acids employed were less efficient leachants. Oxalic acid precipitated nickel oxalate. Roughly the same extraction of iron was observed. The main leaching parameter was confirmed to be hydrogen ion concentration, although complexation with organic anions was a contributor. Organism FI (a strain of Penicillium ) was used in comparison with organisms from various culture collections to bioleach nickel from samples of the low-grade Greek Litharakia nickel laterite. The organisms were cultivated in a mixture of a sugar-based nutrient mineral medium and finely ground ore. Several penicillia and aspergilli leached 55–60% of the contained nickel and cobalt, and 25–35% of the iron when sucrose was the carbon source, but FI was not efficient. However, in molasses medium, Fl extracted nearly 40% of the nickel. Biosorption and bioprecipitation reactions were observed. The mechanism of bioleaching or in situ leaching is discussed in terms of close physical and chemical association between the fungal hyphae and mineral phases in the ore. This accounted for the low overall hydrogen ion concentration observed during bioleaching.     

Hyperaccumulator Alyssum murale relies on a different metal storage mechanism for cobalt than for nickel

The nickel (Ni) hyperaccumulator Alyssum murale has been developed as a commercial crop for phytoremediation/phytomining Ni from metal-enriched soils. Here, metal co-tolerance, accumulation and localization were investigated for A. murale exposed to metal co-contaminants. A. murale was irrigated with Ni-enriched nutrient solutions containing basal or elevated concentrations of cobalt (Co) or zinc (Zn). Metal localization and elemental associations were investigated in situ with synchrotron X-ray microfluorescence (SXRF) and computed-microtomography (CMT). A. murale hyperaccumulated Ni and Co (> 1000 microg g(-1) dry weight) from mixed-metal systems. Zinc was not hyperaccumulated. Elevated Co or Zn concentrations did not alter Ni accumulation or localization. SXRF images showed uniform Ni distribution in leaves and preferential localization of Co near leaf tips/margins. CMT images revealed that leaf epidermal tissue was enriched with Ni but devoid of Co, that Co was localized in the apoplasm of leaf ground tissue and that Co was sequestered on leaf surfaces near the tips/margins. Cobalt-rich mineral precipitate(s) form on leaves of Co-treated A. murale. Specialized biochemical processes linked with Ni (hyper)tolerance in A. murale do not confer (hyper)tolerance to Co. A. murale relies on a different metal storage mechanism for Co (exocellular sequestration) than for Ni (vacuolar sequestration).     

Lyophilized,non-viable,recombinant E. coli cells for cadmium bioprecipitation and recovery

The phoN gene, encoding a non-specific acid phosphatase from Salmonella enterica sv. Typhi, was cloned and overexpressed into Escherichia coli. The E. coli cells bearing phoN showed high acid phosphatase activity and removed 83% of cadmium from a 1 mM solution in 3 h, when provided with 5 mM β-glycerophosphate as a source of phosphate. Such cells, when lyophilized without any lyo/cryoprotectant, were rendered non-viable but fully retained cadmium precipitation ability. Lyophilized recombinant cells could be stored at room temperature, without significant loss of activity for up to 6 months, and removed upto 21 g cadmium/g dry weight. The precipitated cadmium could be easily recovered from the cells by dilute acid wash, following which the cells retained their cadmium precipitation ability, facilitating their reuse. The use of genetically engineered, non-viable E. coli cells offers an environmentally safe biotechnology for bioremediation of cadmium from contaminated sites.     

Use of pelleted and immobilized yeast and fungal biomass for heavy metal and radionuclide recovery

Summary The biosorption of uranium, strontium and caesium by pelleted mycelium of two species of fungi,Rhizopus arrhizus andPenicillium chrysogenum and immobilizedSaccharomyces cerevisiae was evaluated in both batch and continuous flow systems where the presence of competing cations affected accumulation. The uptake mechanism for the pelleted fungal biomass differed from that of the immobilized yeast, the former being metabolism-independent biosorption of the metals while, in the presence of glucose, uptake in the latter organism was biphasic, surface biosorption being followed by energy-dependent influx. Removal of surface-bound metals was achieved by eluting with mineral acids or carbonate/bicarbonate solutions; a high degree of metal recovery was observed for uranium.     

AM1* parameters for cobalt and nickel

We report the parameterization of AM1* for the elements Co and Ni. The basis sets for both metals contain one set each of s-, p- and d-orbitals. AM1* parameters are now available for H, C, N, O and F (which use the original AM1 parameters), Al, Si, P, S, Cl, Ti, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Zr, Mo and I. The performance and typical errors of AM1* are discussed for Co and Ni and compared with available NDDO Hamiltonians.     

Redistribution of cobalt and nickel in detached wheat shoots: effects of steam-girdling and of cobalt and nickel supply

Detached wheat shoots (ear with peduncle and flag leaf) were incubated for 4 d in a solution containing 1 mM RbCl and 1 mM SrCl2 as well as 10, 40 or 160 μM NiCl2 and CoCl2. The phloem of some plants was interrupted by steam-girdling the stem below the ear to distinguish between xylem and phloem transport. The phloem-immobile Sr flowed mainly to the leaf lamina and to the glumes via the xylem. The Sr transport was not sensitive to steam-girdling. In contrast, the phloem-mobile Rb accumulated during the incubation time mainly in the stem and the leaf sheath. The Rb transport to the grains was impaired by steam-girdling as well as by elevated Ni and Co concentrations in the incubation solution indicating that Rb was transported via the phloem to the maturing grains and that this transport was affected by the heavy metals. Ni was removed more efficiently from the xylem in the peduncle than Co (but far less efficiently than Rb). It became evident that the two heavy metals can also be transferred from the xylem to the phloem in the stem of wheat and reach the maturing grains via the phloem. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Biosorbents for metal recovery

Inactivated, non-living microbial biomass can serve as a basis for development of potent biosorbent materials for concentration and recovery of strategic or valuable heavy metals, nuclear fuel or radioactive elements. New biosorbents can be regenerated for multiple reuse. They can be highly selective, efficient and cheap, competing with commercial ion exchange resins and activated carbons in a process arrangement almost identical to that used for these conventional materials. Biosorbents have a potential application in both environmental control and metal recovery operations.     

Selective adsorption and recovery of precious metal ions using protein-rich biomass as efficient adsorbents

Various types of protein-rich biomass were examined as selective and environment-friendly adsorbents for precious metal ions. In the presence of base metal ions, Au³⁺, Pd²⁺ and Pt⁴⁺ ions were selectively adsorbed to samples of protein-rich biomass. Among the biomass samples tested, egg-shell membrane exhibited the highest adsorption ability and had high selectivity for Au, Pd and Pt ions. The maximum adsorption amount of Au, Pd and Pt ions to egg-shell membrane was approximately 250, 110 and 50 mg/g, respectively, in the presence of 0.1 M HCl. Microscopic observations and metal-ion desorption studies suggested that the precious metal ions were adsorbed and a portion of them was reduced to form metal nanoparticles on the egg-shell membrane, leading to high adsorption ratios. Investigations using glycoproteins indicated the importance of sugar chains in the adsorption of Au ions to the egg-shell membrane. Successful recovery of Au, Pd and Pt ions from industrial waste solutions was also demonstrated using egg-shell membrane. Biomass sheets (1 mm thick) made from egg-shell membrane also exhibited adsorption abilities for precious metal ions.     

Mutagenicity, carcinogenicity and teratogenicity of cobalt metal and cobalt compounds

Cobalt metal and cobalt compounds are extensively used for the production of high-temperature alloys, diamond tools, cemented carbides and hard metals, for the production of various salts used in electroplating and as catalysts, drying agents in paints, additives in animal feeds and pigments. Cobalt oxides are used not only in the enameling industry and for pigments, but also in catalytic applications. There is no indication that cobalt metal and cobalt compounds constitute a health risk for the general population. Allergic reactions (asthma, contact dermatitis) can be induced by certain cobalt compounds. Interstitial fibrosis has also been observed in workers exposed to high concentrations of dust containing cobalt, tungsten, iron, etc., mainly in the cemented carbides and the diamond-polishing industries. Several experiments have demonstrated that single or repeated injections of cobalt metal powder or some forms of cobalt salt and cobalt oxide may give rise to injection site sarcoma in rats and in rabbits but the human health significance of such data is questionable. Intratracheal administration of a high dose of one type of cobalt oxide induces lung tumors in rats but not in hamsters. In the latter long-term inhalation of cobalt oxide (10 mg/m3) did not increase the incidence of lung cancer. The human data are too limited to assess the potential carcinogenic risk for workers. Co2+ interacts with protein and nucleic acid synthesis and displays only weak mutagenic activity in microorganisms. Some cobalt salts have been reported to enhance morphological transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells. Cobalt chloride displays some limited mutagenic activity in yeast and some cobalt compounds are able to produce numerical and structural chromosome aberrations in plant cells. Cobalt and its salts appear to be devoid of mutagenic and clastogenic activity in mammalian cells. Cobaltous acetate and cobaltous chloride have not been found to be teratogenic in hamsters and rats respectively.     

Mononuclear and dinuclear model hydrolases of nickel and cobalt

Reaction between the dinuclear model hydrolases [M₂(μ-OAc)₂(OAc)₂(μ-H₂O)(tmen)₂]; M = Ni (1); M = Co (2) and trimethylsilyltrifluoromethanesulphonate (TMS-OTf) under identical reaction conditions gives the mononuclear complex [Ni(OAc)(H₂O)₂(tmen)][OTf] · H₂O (3) in the case of nickel and the dinuclear complex [Co₂(μ-OAc)₂(μ-H₂O)₂(tmen)₂][OTf]₂ (4) in the case of cobalt.Reaction of (3) with urea gives the previously reported [Ni(OAc)(urea)₂(tmen)][OTf] (5), whereas (4) gives [Co₂(OAc)₃(urea)(tmen)₂][OTf] (6) previously obtained by direct reaction of (2) with urea. Both (3) and (4) react with monohydroxamic acids (RHA) to give the dihydroxamate bridged dinuclear complexes [M₂(μ-OAc)(μ-RA)₂(tmen)₂][OTf]; M = Ni (7); M = Co (8) previously obtained by the reaction of (1) and (2) with RHA, illustrating the greater ability of hydroxamic acids to stabilize dinuclear complexes over that of urea by means of their bridging mode, and offering a possible explanation for the inhibiting effect of hydroxamic acids by means of their displacing bridging urea in a possible intermediate invoked in the action of urease.     

Differential staining of insect neurons with nickel and cobalt

Pairs of neurons were differentially stained by intracellular injection of the divalent cations, nickel and cobalt. Pairs of neuronal tracts could be similarly labelled following immersion of their axon bundles in the markers described. Use of nickel and a 4 : 6 mixture of cobalt and nickel according to the protocols presented here revealed the morphology of cricket neuron processes as thin as 1 μm in diameter and yielded a favourable contrast between the cells marked, as well as with respect to the background of unstained tissue.     

Heterologous production and characterization of bacterial nickel/cobalt permeases

Nickel/cobalt permeases (NiCoTs, TC 2.A.52) are a rapidly growing family of structurally related membrane transporters whose members are found in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, in thermoacidophilic archaea, and in fungi. Previous studies have predicted two subclasses represented by HoxN of Ralstonia eutropha, a selective nickel transporter, and by NhlF of Rhodococcus rhodochrous, a nickel and cobalt transporter that displays a preference for the Co ion. In the present study, NiCoT genes of five Gram-negative bacteria and one Gram-positive bacterium were cloned and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. Based on substrate preference in metal-accumulation assays with the recombinant strains, two of the novel NiCoTs were assigned to the NhlF class. The remaining four NiCoTs belong to a yet unrecognized, third class. They transport both the nickel and the cobalt ion but have a significantly higher capacity for nickel. The observed substrate preferences correlate in many cases with the genomic localization of NiCoT genes adjacent to regions encoding nickel- or cobalt-dependent enzymes or enzymes involved in cobalamin biosynthesis. Alignment of 23 full-length NiCoT sequences and comparison with the available experimental data predict that substrate specificity of NiCoTs is an adaptation to specific transition metal requirements in various organisms from different taxa.     

Spectroscopic studies of cobalt and nickel substituted rubredoxin and desulforedoxin.

The single iron site of rubredoxin was replaced by nickel and cobalt. The near-infrared/visible/UV spectra of these metal derivatives show ligand-field transitions and charge-transfer bands which closely resemble those of simple tetrathiolate complexes, indicating a tetrahedral arrangement of the sulfur cysteinyl ligands around the metal core. The 1H NMR spectra of the nickel and cobalt derivatives reveal extremely low-field contact shifted resonances of one proton intensity assigned to beta-CH2 and alpha-CH cysteinyl protons. Other well resolved resonances shifted out of the main protein spectral envelope are also observed and probably arise from contact plus pseudocontact shift mechanisms. Rubredoxins from different sulfate reducers were metal substituted and assignments of aliphatic protons are tentatively proposed, taking advantage of the amino acid sequence homologies. The present data is promising in terms of structural analysis of the coordination sphere of the metal core. It was also shown that replacement of the iron atom of desulforedoxin, a close analogue of rubredoxin, by cobalt and nickel was possible.     

Biosorptive removal and recovery of cobalt from aqueous systems

Equilibrium and kinetic aspects of cobalt biosorption onto a new biosorbent, PFB1, were studied. The biosorbent, PFB1, had a specific surface area of 256·8m²g⁻¹ and showed high equilibrium capacities for cobalt uptake, the highest being 190 mg g⁻¹, in the range of concentrations employed. The equilibrium uptake increased and then decreased with initial pH with the highest uptake at pH 7. The equilibrium uptake also decreased with increasing temperature in the range 30–45°C. The kinetics of cobalt uptake were analysed using mathematical models and the external mass transfer coefficient for cobalt biosorption on PFB1 was 0·075 m s⁻¹. EDAX and EPR studies indicated involvement of an ion-exchange mechanism and free-radical interaction in the biosorption process. Desorption/readsorption studies for three adsorption–desorption cycles were carried out with acidic, basic and salt desorbents and the highest desorption efficiencies of 92·5% and 70·5% at the end of the first and third cycles, respectively, were obtained with 0·1 N HCl as the desorbent.     

Horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase derivatives containing nickel(II) and cobalt(lI) in the noncatalytic metal binding site

The noncatalytic zinc in horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase was selectively replaced by nickel(II). This novel species, Zn(c)₂Ni(n)₂⁴ horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase (where c denotes the catalytic and n denotes the noncatalytic site) was compared to Zn(c)₂Co(n)₂ horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase with respect to its absorption, circular dichroism and magnetic circular dichroism spectra, as well as its magnetic moment. For Zn(c)₂Co(n)₂ horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase (prepared according to refs. 1 and 2) the extinction coefficients were redetermined in the UV, visible and near-infrared region and the molar ellipticities in the range 300-800 nm. The average magnetic moment was determined by the NMR method as 4.5-5.0 B.M. The results confirm a tetrahedral structure in the zinc-cobalt enzyme. In contrast, the spectroscopic data and the zero magnetic moment support a planar geometry for the nickel(Il) bound in the noncatalytic site. Zn(c)₂Ni(n)₂ horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase is very temperature-sensitive and precipitates after short exposure to room temperature. Stored in the cold it has the same activity as the native enzyme. The results indicate that the protein is flexible in the loop region binding the noncatalytic metal ion and that it may retain catalytic activity even in a partially distorted conformation.     

Extraction and recovery of organochlorine pesticides from fungal mycelia

An extraction method was developed to recover organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) associated with live and mercuric chloride-treated fungal mycelia. A Cladosporium sp. was inoculated into potato dextrose broth, DDT (90 mg/l) added and incubated for seven days. The combination of a microextraction procedure for aqueous-phase-associated DDT and a sonication extraction for mycelia-bound DDT, using dichloromethane as the extracting solvent, resulted in the recovery of 31-51% of added DDT. DDT recovery was increased to 62-65% by grinding the fungal mycelia before sonication. Alkali and nitric acid pretreatments were tested to increase the recovery of DDT associated with fungal mycelia, however, these treatments resulted in the production of unidentified DDT transformation products. Pretreating mycelia containing DDT in concentrated hydrochloric acid at 60 degrees C for 2, 4 and 6 h resulted in DDT recoveries of 90-91%, 99% and 101-102% respectively without the production of transformation products. When an OCP mixture (DDT, DDD and DDE) was added to fungal mycelia, between 89% and 96% of DDT, DDD and DDE were recovered from live cultures compared to 85-91% in mercuric chloride-treated cultures using the microextraction/hydrochloric acid pretreatment (60 degrees C/6 h) sonication extraction method.     

Comparative studies of nickel,cobalt, and copper uptake by some nickel hyperaccumulators of the genus Alyssum

The uptake of Ni, Co, and Cu by the nickel hyperaccumulator Alyssum troodii Boiss and the non-accumulator Aurinia saxatilis (L.) Desv. were studied in pot trials using artificial rooting media with varying concentrations of the metals added as soluble salts, singly and in combination. The ability of five other Ni hyperaccumulating species of Alyssum to hyperaccumulate Co was also investigated.Leaves and stems of A. troodii accumulated Ni to almost the same extent (8000–10 000 g g^-1). In roots, the highest Ni concentration was 2000 g g^-1. In leaves of Au. saxatilis, the maximum Ni concentration was only 380 g g^-1 and the level in roots was even lower.In media containing Co, the maximum concentration of this element in A. troodii (2325 g g^-1) was ten times higher than in the non-accumulator species. Slightly less Co was found in stems and roots of both species. Among the other Ni hyperaccumulators, the maximum concentration of Co in leaves ranged from about 1000–8000 g g^-1.Copper concentrations were the same in all organs of both species when they were grown in copper-rich media and were in the range 40–80 g g^-1, showing that neither plant was capable of taking up Cu at levels comparable to those of Ni and Co.When both plants were grown in media containing equal amounts of both Co and Ni, the Co concentrations in plant organs were the same as for specimens grown in media containing Co only. However, the Ni levels were lower in both species. Uptake of Co therefore appeared to suppress Ni uptake.Pot trials showed that the order of tolerance was Ni>Cu>Co for A. troodii and Ni>CoCu for Au. saxatilis, whereas the seedling tests showed the order to be Co>Ni>Cu. At metal concentrations 10 000 g g^-1, the overall tolerance of A. troodii was greater than that of Au. saxatilis which exhibited equally low tolerance to Ni and Cu.We conclude that in A. troodii, A. corsicum Duby, A. heldreichii Hausskn., A. murale Waldstein & Kitaibel, A. pintodasilvae T.R. Dudley, and A. tenium Hálácsy, Ni tolerance and hyperaccumulation conveys the same character towards Co. This behaviour should be investigated in other hyperaccumulators of Ni and/or Co.