Biosorbents, microbial

Lebeau et al. (2002) investigated the sorption of cadmium by viable microbial cells that were free or immobilized in alginate beads by incubating the bacteria in a liquid soil extract medium at pH 5 7 and Cd concentrations of 1 to 10 mg L-1. The percentage of Cd biosorbed reached a maximum (69%) at low Cd concentrations and neutral pH. Thus, the effectiveness of bacteria, inoculated into metal-contaminated soils, would largely depend on the concentration of the metal and its distribution between the biomass and the medium. 

Strandberg, G. W., Shumate, S. E. Parrott, J. R. Jr, (1981). Microbial cells as biosorbents for heavy metals accumulation of uranium by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 41, 237-45. 

S-oxidizing bacteria), many are probably most appropriate for ex situ use in bioreactors, where the mobilized or immobilized metal can be separated from soil components (White et al., 1998). Living or dead fungal and bacterial biomass and metabolites have been used to remove metals, radionuclides, and metalloids from solution by biosorption or chelation (Macaskie, 1991 Gadd, 2001). The metalloregulatory protein MerR, which exhibits high affinity and selectivity toward mercury, was exploited for the construction of microbial biosorbents specific for mercury removal (Bae et ah, 2001, 2002, 2003). Whole-cell sorbents... 

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