The large-scale process of microbial carbonate precipitation for nickel remediation from an industrial soil.
Microbial carbonate precipitation is known as an efficient process for the remediation of heavy metals from contaminated soils. In the present study, a urease positive bacterial isolate, identified as Bacillus cereus NS4 through 16S rDNA sequencing, was utilized on a large scale to remove nickel from industrial soil contaminated by the battery industry. The soil was highly contaminated with an initial total nickel concentration of approximately 900 mg kg-1. The soluble-exchangeable fraction was reduced to 38 mg kg-1after treatment. The primary objective of metal stabilization was achieved by reducing the bioavailability through immobilizing the nickel in the urease-driven carbonate precipitation. The nickel removal in the soils contributed to the transformation of nickel from mobile species into stable biominerals identified as calcite, vaterite, aragonite and nickelous carbonate when analyzed under XRD. It was proven that during precipitation of calcite, Ni2+with an ion radius close to Ca2+was incorporated into the CaCO3crystal. The biominerals were also characterized by using SEM-EDS to observe the crystal shape and Raman-FTIR spectroscopy to predict responsible bonding during bioremediation with respect to Ni immobilization. The electronic structure and chemical-state information of the detected elements during MICP bioremediation process was studied by XPS. This is the first study in which microbial carbonate precipitation was used for the large-scale remediation of metal-contaminated industrial soil.
Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration (SHUES), School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
Xuejiao
X
Zhu
Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration (SHUES), School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
Weila
W
Li
Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration (SHUES), School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
Lu
L
Zhan
Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration (SHUES), School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
Minsheng
M
Huang
Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration (SHUES), School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
Qiuzhuo
Q
Zhang
Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration (SHUES), School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China. Electronic address: varenyam@re.ecnu.edu.cn.
Varenyam
V
Achal
D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D002254:Carbonates / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D002681:China; D007220:Industrial Waste; D009532:Nickel / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D012995:Solubility
D002254:Carbonates; D007220:Industrial Waste; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D009532:Nickel; D002119:Calcium Carbonate; C030989:nickel carbonate
Biominerals; Calcite; NiCO(3); Nickel; Remediation; Urease