Cleanup of industrial effluents containing heavy metals: a new opportunity of valorising the biomass produced by brewing industry

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution is a matter of concern in industrialised countries. Contrary to organic pollutants, heavy metals are not metabolically degraded. This fact has two main consequences: its bioremediation requires another strategy and heavy metals can be indefinitely recycled. Yeast cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are produced at high amounts as a by-product of brewing industry constituting a cheap raw ma-terial. In the present work, the possibility of valorising this type of biomass in the bioremediation of real industrial efflu-ents containing heavy metals is reviewed. Given the auto-aggregation capacity (flocculation) of brewing yeast cells, a fast and off-cost yeast separation is achieved after the treat-ment of metal-laden effluent, which reduces the costs associ-ated with the process. This is a critical issue when we are looking for an effective, eco-friendly, and low-cost technolo-gy. The possibility of the bioremediation of industrial effluents linked with the selective recovery of metals, in a strategy of simultaneous minimisation of environmental hazard of indus-trial wastes with financial benefits from reselling or recycling the metals, is discussed.

“NiCo Buster”: engineering E. coli for fast and efficient capture of cobalt and nickel

“…Non-living biomass biosorbents (algae, fungal, yeast or bacterial biomass) can be used to immobilize heavy metals with low selectivity [2,4,7]. Engineered and non-engineered bacteria (e.g., Escherichia coli , Deinococcus radiodurans, Citrobacter sp. )…”

“…Developing a process that minimizes costs while efficiently separating solids from liquid is challenging. Flocculent S. cerevisiae cells and calcium alginate beads containing D. radiodurans bind metals ions efficiently and can be removed easily from the treated solution [7,11]. Magnetic chitosan, a modified biopolymer, has been used successfully to remove Cu(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) ions from aqueous solutions; however, this approach requires multi-step extraction and modification processes to prepare the chelating resin [12].…”

Removal of lead, mercury and nickel using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

“…The tests were conducted by inoculating the medium with 0.2 g of dry yeast and incubated La industria cervecera es otra fuente importante de levadura de bajo costo con propiedades floculantes, lo cual facilita la separación mecánica al final del proceso de biosorción (8).…”

“…The brewing industry is another important source of low-cost yeast with flocculating properties, which facilitates the mechanical separation at the end of the biosorption process (8).…”

Study of modification of magnetically labeled yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae for copper cations Cu2+ removal

“…For example, in [13] showed that the magnetite is an effective sorbent, but the downside is coagulation of particles that impairs its industrial use. Industrial application of yeasts S. cerevisiae is already seen as a real technology for wastewater treatment [14].…”