Effect of biopolymer chitosan on manganese immobilization improvement by microbial‑induced carbonate precipitation

• Published in: Ecotoxicology and environmental safety 2024-07, Vol.279, p.116496, Article 116496
• Main Authors: Zhang, Wenchao, Shen, Lu, Xu, Ruyue, Dong, Xue, Luo, Shurui, Gu, Huajie, Qin, Fenju, Liu, Hengwei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chitosan; Manganese; Mechanism; MICP; Removal efficiency
• ISSN: 0147-6513; 1090-2414; 1090-2414
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.116496

Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP), as an eco-friendly and promising technology that can transform free metal ions into stable precipitation, has been extensively used in remediation of heavy metal contamination. However, its depressed efficiency of heavy metal elimination remains in question due to the inhibition effect of heavy metal toxicity on bacterial activity. In this work, an efficient, low-cost manganese (Mn) elimination strategy by coupling MICP with chitosan biopolymer as an additive with reduced treatment time was suggested, optimized, and implemented. The influences of chitosan at different concentrations (0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.30 %, w/v) on bacterial growth, enzyme activity, Mn removal efficiency and microstructure properties of the resulting precipitation were investigated. Results showed that Mn content was reduced by 94.5 % within 12 h with 0.15 % chitosan addition through adsorption and biomineralization as MnCO3 (at an initial Mn concentration of 3 mM), demonstrating a two-thirds decrease in remediation time compared to the chitosan-absent system, whereas maximum urease activity increased by ∼50 %. Microstructure analyses indicated that the mineralized precipitates were spherical-shaped MnCO3, and a smaller size and more uniform distribution of MnCO3 is obtained by the regulation of abundant amino and hydroxyl groups in chitosan. These results demonstrate that chitosan accelerates nucleation and tunes the growth of MnCO3 by providing nucleation sites for mineral formation and alleviating the toxicity of metal ions, which has the potential to upgrade MICP process in a sustainable and effective manner. This work provides a reference for further understanding of the biomineralization regulation mechanism, and gives a new perspective into the application of biopolymer-intensified strategies of MICP technology in heavy metal contamination. •Mn has evident toxicity on S. pasteurii, and the MIC of Mn on bacterial growth is 9 mM.•A certain amount of urease activity can be enhanced by chitosan, reaching 6.24 mmol/L min-1.•S. pasteurii-combined chitosan reduced the Mn remediation time by ∼66.7 % with a maximum removal efficiency of 99.3 %.•Mn was removed by MICP and chitosan in the form of carbonates.•MnCO3 crystal size can be reduced by 36 % in the presence of 0.15 % chitosan.