METALCHEMBIO.: Innovative combination of chemical and biological strategies for the recovery of metals from metals bearing wastewaters and leachates

METALCHEMBIO

Project Summary

This project aimed the recovery of strategic metals from secondary sources (effluents and residues) using an innovative combination of chemical (liquid-liquid extraction) and biological processes based on the use of bacteria and plant extracts.

Financing information:

Project reference: PTDC/BTA-BTA/29251/2017

Funding granted: €232,459.96

FEDER financing granted: €85,480.37

National funding granted: €136,970.55

Total budget: €234,950.93

CCMAR budget: €212,450.93

Intervention region: Algarve

Beneficiary: Algarve Center of Marine Sciences (CCMAR)

Partners: FFCUL- Fundação Faculdade Ciências Universidade de Lisboa; University of Algarve

Team (% dedication)

CENTRO DE CIÊNCIAS DO MAR DO ALGARVE

Maria Clara Semedo da Silva Costa: Principal Investigator (PI) (40%)

Jorge Daniel Dias Carlier: Co-PI and hired researcher (100%)

Tânia Cristina Da Luz Palma – researcher (10%)

Vera Marta Almeida Gomes – tecnician (10%)

FCIÊNCIAS.ID – ASSOCIAÇÃO PARA A INVESTIGAÇÃO E DESENVOLVIMENTO DE CIÊNCIAS

Ana Paula Pereira Paiva – researcher (25%)

UNIVERSIDADE DO ALGARVE

João Paulo Gil Lourenço – researcher (20%)

METALCHEMBIO.: Innovative combination of chemical and biological strategies for the recovery of metals from metals bearing wastewaters and leachates

Start and End Date

31.08.2018 - 31.05.2022

Research Group

Ecology and restoration of riverine, estuarine and coastal habitats

Coordinating Entity

CCMAR

CCMAR Coordinators

Maria Clara Costa

Jorge Daniel Dias Carlier

Project reference

ALG-01-0145-FEDER-029251

Funding agencies

CRESC Algarve 2020

FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia

Total Budget

234950.93 €

CCMAR Budget

212450.93€

Project Activities

The accumulation of metals in the environment has several negative impacts, which tend to be aggravated by their intensive demand and utilization. This situation is accompanied by the depletion of some primary resources, namely those of platinum group metals (PGMs). Hence, their recovery from secondary sources, namely wastes and wastewaters, using economically and environmentally sustainable techniques is a top priority. In this regard, the present project aimed the recovery of strategic metals (Cu, Zn and Fe) from two highly metals-contaminated effluents (an extreme contaminated acid mine drainage, AMD, and spent solutions from Zn plating industries) and the recovery of PGMs (e.g. Pd, Pt) from leachates from spent automotive catalysts.

For that purpose, a pioneering approach that combines the potential of liquid-liquid extraction as separation technique with the versatility of bio-recovery strategies based on the use of bacterial communities, solutions from their activity or plant extracts, was tested. The use of diverse biologic agents (and conditions) that can act through several mechanisms such as bio-reduction or bio-precipitation, allows the metal to be recovered in a non-combined or combined form, and may result on different products or particles sizes, thus broadening with advantage their possible properties and applications.

Publications

Articles in Scientific Journals:

Nobahar A, Lourenço JP, Costa MC, Carlier JD (2023) Printed circuit boards leaching followed by synthesis of gold nanoparticle clusters using plant extracts. Waste and Biomass Valorization. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-023-02272-8

Díaz LA, Carlier JD, Michalak I, Costa MC (2023) Potential Use of Agricultural Waste—Carob Kibbles (Ceratonia siliqua L.) as a Biosorbent for Removing Boron from Wastewater. Separations. 10, 464. https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10090464

Nobahar A, Carlier JD, Costa MC (2023) Recovery of catalytic metals from leaching solutions of spent automotive catalytic converters using plant extracts. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-023-02523-1

dos Reis Ferreira GM, Pires JF, Ribeiro LS, Carlier JD, Costa MC, Schwan RF, Silva CF (2023) Impact of lead (Pb2+) on the growth and biological activity of Serratia marcescens selected for wastewater treatment and identification of its zntR gene—a metal efflux regulator. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology. 39, 91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-023-03535-1

Nobahar A, Melka AB, Marín-Beltrán I, Neves L, Costa MC, Carlier JD (2022a) Zinc Recovery from an Extreme Copper-Free Acid Mine Drainage: Studying the Prior Separation of Ferric Iron by Solvent Extraction using AliCy and/or Alkalinization. J Sustain Metall. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-022-00588-8

Nobahar A, Melka AB, Pusta A, Lourenço JP, Carlier JD, Costa MC (2022b) A New Application of Solvent Extraction to Separate Copper from Extreme Acid Mine Drainage Producing Solutions for Electrochemical and Biological Recovery Processes. Mine Water and the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-022-00858-7

Nobahar A, Carlier JD, Miguel MG, Costa MC (2021) A review of plant metabolites with metal interaction capacity: a green approach for industrial applications. Biometals. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-021-00315-y

Carlier JD, Ettamimi S, Cox CJ, Hammani K, Ghazal H, Clara MC (2020a) Prokaryotic diversity in stream sediments affected by acid mine drainage. Extremophiles. 24: 809-819. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-020-01196-8

Carlier JD, Luís AT, Alexandre LM, Costa MC (2020b) Feasibility of Co-treating Olive Mill Wastewater and Acid Mine Drainage. Mine Water and the Environment. 39: 859-880. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-020-00719-1

Ettamimi S, Carlier JD, Cox CJ, Elamine Y, Hammani K, Ghazal H, Clara MC (2019) A meta-taxonomic investigation of the prokaryotic diversity of water bodies impacted by acid mine drainage from the São Domingos mine in southern Portugal. Extremophiles. 23: 821–834. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-019-01136-1

Nanusha MY, Carlier J, Carvalho GI, Costa MC, Paiva AP (2019) Separation and recovery of Pd and Fe as nanosized metal sulphides by combining solvent extraction with biological strategies based on the use of sulphate-reducing bacteria. Separation and Purification Technology. 212: 747-756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2018.11.062

Pedagogical material published on massive dissemination platforms:

A short movie produced by Amir Nobahar, Jorge Dias Carlier and Maria Clara Costa, about work at a pilot plant designed, constructed and tested in the scope of projects BIOMETALDEMO and METALCHEMBIO was published in YOUTUBE: as an English version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTcw6MkuWL4) and as a Portuguese version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gjUYu0gmRY).