Fungal Leaching of Hazardous Heavy Metals from a Spent Hydrotreating Catalyst

Authors: R. Mafi Gholami, S. M. Borghei, S. M. Mousavi

Abstract:

In this study, the ability of Aspergillus niger and Penicillium simplicissimum to extract heavy metals from a spent refinery catalyst was investigated. For the first step, a spent processing catalyst from one of the oil refineries in Iran was physically and chemically characterized. Aspergillus niger and Penicillium simplicissimum were used to mobilize Al/Co/Mo/Ni from hazardous spent catalysts. The fungi were adapted to the mixture of metals at 100-800 mg L-1 with increments in concentration of 100 mg L-1. Bioleaching experiments were carried out in batch cultures. To investigate the production of organic acids in sucrose medium, analyses of the culture medium by HPLC were performed at specific time intervals after inoculation. The results obtained from Inductive coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) showed that after the one-step bioleaching process using Aspergillus niger, maximum removal efficiencies of 27%, 66%, 62% and 38% were achieved for Al, Co, Mo and Ni, respectively. However, the highest removal efficiencies using Penicillium simplicissimum were of 32%, 67%, 65% and 38% for Al, Co, Mo and Ni, respectively

Keywords: Aspergillus niger, Bioleaching, Heavy metals, Penicillium simplicissimum, Spent catalyst

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1057035

References:

[1] Aung, K.M.M., Ting, Y.P., 2005. Bioleaching of spent fluid catalytic cracking catalysts using Aspergillus niger. Biotechnol. 116, 159-170.
[2] Bayraktar, O., 2005. Bioleaching of nickel from equilibrium fluid catalytic cracking catalysts. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 21, 661- 665.
[3] Bosshard, P.B., Bachofen, R., Brandl, H., 1996. Metal leaching of fly ash from municipal waste incineration by Aspergillus niger. Environ. Sci. Technol. 30, 3066-3070.
[4] Brandl, H., Bosshard, R., Wegmann, M., 2001. Computer munching microbes: metal leaching from electronic scrap by bacteria and fungi. Hydrometal. 59, 319-326.
[5] Burgstaller, W., Schinner, F., 1993. Minireview: leaching of metals with fungi, Biotechnol. 27, 91-116.
[6] Castro, I.M., Fietto, J.L.R., Vieria, R.X., Tropia, M.J.M, Campos, L.M.M, Paniago, E.B., Branado, R.L., 2000. Bioleaching of zinc and nickel from silicates using Aspergillus niger cultures. Hydrometal. 57, 39-49.
[7] Furimsky, E., 1996. Spent refinery Catalysts: environment safety and utilization. Catalysis Today. 30, 223-86.
[8] Gadd, G.M., 1992. Metals and microorganism: a problem definition. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 100, 197-203.
[9] Glombitza, F., Iske, U., Bullmann, M., 1992. Biotechnology based opportunities for environmental-protection in the Uranium miningindustry. Acta. Biotechnol. 12(2), 79-85.
[10] Krebs, W., Brombacher, C., Bosshard, P.P., Bachofen, R., Brandl, H., 1997. Microbial recovery of metals from solids. FEMS Microbial. Rev. 20, 605-617.
[11] Mafigholami, M.R., Borghei, S.M., Mousavi, S.M., Application of a statistical method to optimize biorecovery of heavy metals from a spent refinery catalyst by fungi. Iranian J. Chem. and chem. Eng. (Submitted)
[12] Marafi, M., Stanislaus, A., 2003. Options and processes for spent catalyst handling and utilization. J. Hazard. Mater. B101, 123-132.
[13] Mishra, D., Ahn, J.G., Kim, D.J., Roychaudhury, G., Ralph, D.E., 2009. Dissolution kinetics of spent petroleum catalyst using sulfur oxidizing acidophilic microorganisms. Hazard Mater. 167, 1231-1236.
[14] Nies, D.H., 1992. Resistance to cadmium, cobalt, zinc and nickel in microbes. Plasmid. 27, 17-28.
[15] Park, K.H., Mohapatra, D., Reddy, B.R., 2006. Selective recovery of molybdenum from HDS catalyst using oxidative soda/ash leach/carbon adsorption method. J. Hazard. Mater. 138, 311-316.
[16] Ren, W.X., Li, P.J., Geng, Y., Li, X.J., 2009. Biological leaching of heavy metals from a contaminated soil by Aspergillus niger. Hazard. Mater. 167, 164-169.
[17] Rezza, I., Salinas, E., Elorza, M., Tosetti, M.S., Donati, E., 2001. Mechanisms involved in bioleaching of an aluminosilicate by heterotrophic microorganisms. Process. Biochem. 36, 495-500.
[18] Santhiya, D., Ting, Y.P., 2005. Bioleaching of spent refinery catalyst using Aspergillus niger with high yield oxalic acid. Biotechnol. 116, 171-84.
[19] Sayer, J.A., Gadd, G.M., 1997. Solubilization and transformation of insoluble inorganic metal compounds to insoluble metal oxalates by Aspergillus niger. Mycol. Res. 101, 653-661.
[20] Schinner, F., Burgstaller, W., 1989. Extraction of zinc from industrial waste by Penicillium sp. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 55, 1153-1156.
[21] Shehata, F.H.A., Whitton, B.a., 1983. Zinc tolerance in strains of bluegreen algae Anacystis nidulans. Br. Phycol. 17, 5-12.
[22] Yoo, J.S., 1998. Metal recovery and rejuvenation of metal-loaded spent catalysts. Catalysis Today. 44, 27-46.