0520439 - ÚCHP 2020 RIV CZ eng M - Monography Chapter
Kaštánek, František - Maléterová, Ywetta - Kaštánek, P. - Šolcová, Olga - Brányiková, Irena
Algae and Metals. Chapter 2.3.
Biorefining in the 21st Century. Prague: Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the CAS, v. v. i., 2019 - (Šolcová, O.; Hanika, J.; Topka, P.), s. 29-31. ISBN 978-80-86186-02-3
R&D Projects: GA TA ČR TE01020080
Institutional support: RVO:67985858
Keywords : algae and metal * experiments * sorption mechanisms
OECD category: Chemical process engineering
Result website:
http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0305107

Microalgae have a highly developed ability to sorb metals, which could potentially be used to remove them from contaminated waters. In this case, sorption is a combination of metal ions capture both on the surface and inside algae via intracellular ligands. In particular, binding of ions to a carboxyl group is used. Detailed knowledge of the mechanism of binding of metal ions to algae has not been fully acquired. The amount of bound ions depends on the ion, algae and its concentration, pH, temperature, algae metabolism, whether it absorbs in the exponential or stationary phase, etc. This topic is experimentally interesting because it allows us to study how different microalgae react to different metals, whether they are selective in multi-metal mixtures in waste waters, what metal concentrations are the algae able to sustain repeatedly, how the pre-treatment acts to activate binding sites, etc. These issues are covered in a review by Barange et al., 2014. They showed that not all microalgae sorb metals in the same way, even some of the most common green microalgae, whose cultivation is well controlled, are not universally suitable due to the sorption of various heavy metals, such as Pb, Cd, Zn, Ni, Cr (e.g. mainly brown algae Turbinaria conoides significantly sorbed Pb, red algae Polysiphonia lanosa Cr, etc.). Similarly, Kastanek et al., 2015, found that green algae Chlorella vulgaris sorbs Rb
selectively and does not sorb Li, which could be useful in separating Rb from wastewater after lithium minerals mining. Regarding the fact that natural living material is applied as a biosorbent, a number of contradictory results can be expected depending on a number of factors affecting algal metabolism. Nevertheless, these have not been fully understood yet. Further work aimed at revealing sorption mechanisms of various heavy metal ions would be beneficial.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0305109