Microbially Induced Precipitation of Strontianite Nanoparticles

The objectives of this study were to investigate the microbially mediated precipitation of strontium by microorganisms, and to examine the mineralogical characteristics of the precipitates. Wu Do-1 (Proteus mirabilis) enriched from rhodoliths was used to precipitate strontium at room temperature under aerobic environment. The growth of Wu Do-1 gradually increased over 16 days (OD600 = 2.6) and then decreased until 22 days (OD600 = 2.0) during microbial incubation for strontium precipitation. Also, the pH decreased from 6.5 to 5.3 over 4 days of incubation due to microbial oxidation of organic acids, and then the pH increased up to 8.6 at 25 days of incubation due to NH3+ generation. The Sr2+ concentration in the biotic group sharply decreased from 2,953 mg/L to 5.7 mg/L over 29 days of incubation. XRD, SEM-/TEM-EDS analyses revealed that the precipitates formed by Wu Do-1 (Proteus mirabilis) were identified as 20-70 nm sized strontianite (SrCO3). Therefore, these results suggested that formation of sparingly soluble Sr precipitates mediated by Wu Do-1 (Proteus mirabilis) sequesters strontium and carbon dioxide into a more stable and less toxic form such as strontianite (SrCO3). These results also suggest that bioremediation of metal-contaminated water and biominealization of carbonate minerals may be feasible in the marine environment.