Scientists have discovered that some types of cyanobacteria efficiently absorb rare earth elements from wastewater, even at low concentrations of the metal, which has been steadily in demand because it is so expensive and indispensable in modern technology.
German scientists have discovered that some types of cyanobacteria can passively collect rare earth elements, which are essential for the production of high-tech products from wastewater, without the need to expend any additional energy or nutrients, making them a potential source for recycling these valuable materials.
The discovery, published in the journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology on February 28, could lead to more sustainable and cost-effective ways to obtain rare earth elements, which are mostly obtained from environmentally harmful mining practices.
Researchers recovered about 90% of the rare earth elements from the biomass of cyanobacteria (Shutterstock)
absorption potential
In this study, the researchers measured the biosorption potential of rare earth elements by 12 new strains of cyanobacteria in the laboratory.
The researchers collected bacterial samples from highly specialized habitats such as the arid soils of the Namibian deserts, the natron lakes of Chad, the rock crevices of South Africa, and the polluted streams of Switzerland.
The study found that certain strains of cyanobacteria can effectively absorb amounts of rare earth elements from contaminated water sources, and the researchers were able to recover up to 90 percent of the rare earth elements from the cyanobacterial biomass using a simple treatment process.
The researchers used a technique called infrared spectroscopy to identify the chemical functional groups in the biomass, and found that a new species of Nostoc, a genus of colony-forming cyanobacteria, had the highest biosorption capacity for REE ions from solutions. water even at low metal concentrations.
For example, most of the cerium in solution was biosorbed within 5 minutes of starting the reaction, thus biosorption offers an economically and environmentally optimized process for recovery and reuse of rare earth metals from dilute industrial wastewater from mining, electronics, and other sectors.
"The process was most effective when there was no competition on the biosorption surface of cyanobacterial biomass from metal positive ions," study first author Michael Pepper, a scientist at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, said in a press release. other than rare earth elements.
"We found that biomass derived from cyanobacteria has excellent adsorption properties, and these negatively charged components attract ions of positively charged metals such as rare earth elements, and support their binding to the biomass," he added.
Some types of cyanobacteria efficiently absorb rare earth elements (Shutterstock)
elements and significance
The rare earth elements are a group of 17 chemically similar metals, which got their name because they usually occur in low concentrations (between 0.5 and 67 parts per million) within the Earth's crust.
Because it is indispensable in modern technology such as mobile phones, electric motors, wind turbines, hard disks, cameras, low-power lamps, and military equipment, the demand for it has increased steadily in the past few decades, and the demand is expected to increase even more by 2030.
Despite their name, rare earth elements are not rare in the Earth's crust, but they are difficult to extract and refine.
As a result of demand, they are very expensive, and China has almost a monopoly on mining of rare earth elements, which is why concerns about securing the supply chain have led to increased interest in developing alternative sources of rare earth elements for Western economic entities.
Nostik has the highest ability to bioabsorb rare earth ions (Shutterstock)
future applications
Researchers are exploring ways to extract rare earth elements from unconventional sources such as coal waste and electronic waste.
In addition, efforts are underway to develop more efficient recycling methods to reduce reliance on mining and reduce environmental impact.
Therefore, the idea of using cyanobacteria in bioremediation and recovery of rare earth elements is a new approach with great potential, and the current study provided a detailed explanation of how this process works, which does not include any chemicals or processes that could harm the environment, and the benefits that this can bring. The sustainable and environmentally friendly way.
This makes it an ideal solution to deal with the growing problem of pollution, and it is expected that this system will become economically viable in the near future, as the use of these bacteria is also likely to reduce the amount of waste generated during the extraction of rare earth elements, and to reduce the environmental impact of mining on these Elements.
While the discovery of these bacteria is very exciting, there is still a lot of research that needs to be done before we can use these bacteria on a large scale.
It is important to proceed with caution to avoid any unintended consequences of introducing these bacteria into wastewater treatment systems.
The use of these bacteria may not completely eliminate the need for traditional exploration methods, as they may not be able to extract all rare earth elements from wastewater, but this study highlights the possibility of innovative solutions emerging from the outputs of scientific research and stresses the importance of investing in it.