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Updated: Feb 16, 2026

Quantification of Metal Leaching in Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography
Published on: January 17, 2020
Bioaugmentation-driven sustainable leaching of multivalent metals from iron tailings: Decoding microbial mechanisms
Wenhan Liu1, Wenxiu Xue1, Xiaowei Cui2
1School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, 266237, China.
None:
Coastal saline soil (CSS) amelioration remains challenging due to sodium-dominated salinity, leveraging multivalent metal cations (HVMCs) leaching from iron tailings (ITs) provides a feasible route to concurrently achieve CSS improvement and ITs utilization. This study proposes a coupled strategy via microbial enhancement to address the low bioavailability of HVMCs (Fe2+/3+, Ca2+, Mg2+) in ITs, and further realize CSS amelioration. Through artificial domestication and screening, two salt-tolerant strains, Enterobacter hormaechei H9 (EH) and Priestia megaterium H16 (PM) were isolated, their strain characteristics, salt resistance and HVMCs leaching efficiency were demonstrated. EH and PM achieved peak leaching concentrations of Fe2+/3+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ to 16.60, 70.11 and 14.54 μg mL-1 within 24 h, separately. The surface morphology and crystal structure of ITs were disrupted, and ankerite was identified as the main source of HVMCs. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses revealed that bioleaching mechanisms correlate with upregulated glycolysis, TCA cycle activity, and organic acid secretion. Soil column experiments validated practical application, CSS total salt and Na+ content reduced by 48.8% and 62.2%, Fe/Na and Ca/Na ratios enhanced 52 × and 1.51 × times. This study provides a sustainable pathway for CSS amelioration and ITs resource utilization through microbial-driven HVMCs leaching, ion exchange and soil reconditioning.
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