Heavy metal bioremediation using microbially induced carbonate precipitation: Key factors and enhancement strategies

Wenchao Zhang; Hong Zhang; Ruyue Xu; Haichen Qin; Hengwei Liu; Kun Zhao

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1116970

Heavy metal bioremediation using microbially induced carbonate precipitation: Key factors and enhancement strategies

Front Microbiol. 2023 Feb 2:14:1116970. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1116970. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Wenchao Zhang¹, Hong Zhang², Ruyue Xu¹, Haichen Qin¹, Hengwei Liu¹, Kun Zhao^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China.
² Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology, Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
³ Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
⁴ Insitute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.

Abstract

With the development of economy, heavy metal (HM) contamination has become an issue of global concern, seriously threating animal and human health. Looking for appropriate methods that decrease their bioavailability in the environment is crucial. Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) has been proposed as a promising bioremediation method to immobilize contaminating metals in a sustainable, eco-friendly, and energy saving manner. However, its performance is always affected by many factors in practical application, both intrinsic and external. This paper mainly introduced ureolytic bacteria-induced carbonate precipitation and its implements in HM bioremediation. The mechanism of HM immobilization and in-situ application strategies (that is, biostimulation and bioaugmentation) of MICP are briefly discussed. The bacterial strains, culture media, as well as HMs characteristics, pH and temperature, etc. are all critical factors that control the success of MICP in HM bioremediation. The survivability and tolerance of ureolytic bacteria under harsh conditions, especially in HM contaminated areas, have been a bottleneck for an effective application of MICP in bioremediation. The effective strategies for enhancing tolerance of bacteria to HMs and improving the MICP performance were categorized to provide an in-depth overview of various biotechnological approaches. Finally, the technical barriers and future outlook are discussed. This review may provide insights into controlling MICP treatment technique for further field applications, in order to enable better control and performance in the complex and ever-changing environmental systems.

Keywords: enhancement strategies; heavy metal; immobilization efficiency; microbially induced carbonate precipitation; ureolytic bacteria.

Publication types

Review