Biosorption and Bioaccumulation Capacity of Arthrospira platensis toward Yttrium Ions

Abstract

Yttrium is an element of critical importance for industry and technology. Cyanobacteria Arthrospira platensis was employed for Y(III) recovery from contaminated wastewater through biosorption and bioaccumulation processes. The effect of pH of a solution, contact time, temperature, and initial Y(III) concentration on the adsorption behaviour of Arthrospira platensis were studied. The maximum adsorption capacity of 719.8 mg/g was attained at a pH of 3, temperature of 20 °C, and adsorption time of 3 min. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were suitable to describe the equilibrium of the biosorption, while kinetic of the process followed the pseudo-first-order model. Thermodynamic parameters showed that the biosorption process was spontaneous and exothermic in nature. In bioaccumulation experiments, Arthrospira platensis was able to remove up to 70% of Y(III) from the solution. Beside biomass uptake capacity, the toxic effect of Y(III) on the biomass productivity and biochemical composition was assessed. Thus, Y(III) in concentration of 10–30 mg/L led to a decrease in the content of proteins, carbohydrates, and phycobiliproteins in the biomass and had no significant negative impact on productivity and photosynthetic pigments content. Experiments performed using Arthrospira platensis showed that biological objects have a great potential to be applied for the recovery of rare earth elements from wastewater.

Evaluation of Holmium(III), Erbium(III), and Gadolinium(III) Accumulation by Cyanobacteria Arthrospira platensis Using Neutron Activation Analysis and Elements’ Effects on Biomass Quantity and Biochemical Composition

“…The protein content was unaffected by the addition of gadolinium(III) to the medium at concentrations of 10 and 20 mg/L, but at 30 mg/L, it dropped by roughly 16% in comparison with the control. The presence of lanthanum, dysprosium, neodymium, samarium, terbium, and ytterbium did not significantly affect the content of proteins in the spirulina biomass, while europium and yttrium led to its decrease [ 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”

“…Gadolinium(III) had the opposite effect, causing a decrease in the carbohydrate content by 19–22% in comparison to the control. Neodymium, ytterbium, and europium reduced the content of carbohydrates in spirulina biomass [ 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”

“…The content of lipids in the control and experimental samples was similar at gadolinium(III) concentrations of 10 and 20 mg/L, but at 30 mg/L, their content in the experimental samples increased by 12%. The effects of other REEs on the lipid content in spirulina biomass were also very different [ 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”

“…The level of phycobiliprotein reduction was lower—10.8–27.6%—in the medium supplemented with gadolinium(III), where the content of carbohydrates in the spirulina biomass significantly decreased. A decrease in the level of phycobiliproteins in spirulina biomass was observed in the case of other REEs as well, and it could be associated with a reduction in the efficiency of photosynthesis with a decrease in the antioxidant capacity of the biomass [ 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”

“…Thus, Zinicovscaia and co-authors [ 26 ] investigated the uptake of Dy, Sm, Tb, La, Nd, and Yb by spirulina biomass. The accumulation of Eu and Y ions by Arthrospira platensis and their effects on the biochemical composition of the biomass were reported in [ 25 , 27 ]. At the same time, the bioaccumulation technique, which allows the uptake of high levels of pollutants and their biotransformation into less harmful forms, is more appropriate for in situ remediation [ 28 ].…”