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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Aerobic Biodegradation Testing of Materials Using a Natural Marine Seawater Inoculum and Closed Loop Respirometer
Published on: October 24, 2025
Biodegradation of CuTETA, an effluent by-product in mineral processing
Alexander M L Cushing1, Sadan Kelebek2, Siqing Yue3
1The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining, Queen's University, Goodwin Hall, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada. cushing.alexander@queensu.ca.
Abstract:
Polyamines such as triethylenetetramine (TETA) and other amine chelators are used in mineral processing applications. Formation of heavy metal complexes of these reagents as a by-product in effluent water is a recent environmental concern. In this study, Paecilomyces sp. was enriched from soil on TETA as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen and was found to degrade > 96 and 90% CuTETA complexes at initial concentrations of 0.32 and 0.79 mM respectively, following 96-h incubation. After destabilization, most of the copper (> 78%) was complexed extracellularly and the rest was associated with the cell. Mass spectroscopy results provided confirmation that copper re-complexed with small, extracellular, and organic molecules. There are no reports in the literature that Paecilomyces or any other organism can grow on TETA or CuTETA. This study is the first to show that biological destabilization of CuTETA complexes in mineral processing effluents is feasible.
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