Microbial Adaptation to Ionic Liquids Increases the “Talent” to Treat Contaminants

Abstract

Pseudomonas stutzeri strains are able to remediate different persistent contaminants, although they fail to treat efficiently industrial dyes. In this work, we have demonstrated that the acclimation of a Pseudomonas strain to the presence of the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium ethylsulfate can be a solution to remove two synthetic dyes widely found in wastewater effluents from textile industry: Acid Black 48 (AB48) and Reactive Black 5 (RB5), as model anthraquinone and diazo dyes, respectively. The remediation values achieved at small scale for both contaminants (individually and mixed) were higher than 75% in just 2 days. The process was scaled-up in a stirred tank bioreactor, and the levels of removal (greater than 80%) allowed confirming the suitability of the selected bioreactor configuration. All the obtained biomass and dye removal data were modeled by fitting to well-known equations in order to shed more light on the characteristics of the biotreatment process. The present work is the basis for the use of this microorganism at industrial scale, where different pollutants are found simultaneously in the same effluent.

Ecotoxicity and Hemolytic Activity of Fluorinated Ionic Liquids

“…For biomedical approaches, the growth inhibition of microbial species is desirable. However, when considering bioremediation and biotechnological processes such as biocatalysis and biotransformation, involved in ethanol production, dairy industry, and biosorption of uranium, this growth inhibition causes a loss in the effectiveness of the process [35][36][37][38]. Then, when the main goal is to select ILs to be used in biotechnological processes, their impact on microbial or enzymatic species must be reduced.…”

“…P. stutzeri is also considered a bioremediation agent for several contaminants in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly approach [52,53]. Its ability to remove metal working fluids, pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has already been addressed, as well as the removal of dyes after a process of acclimation using ionic liquids [35]. Additionally, these bacteria were also used to produce and isolate new biocorrosion and antibacterial agents [54,55].…”

“…Unfortunately, P. stutzeri were isolated from hospital environments, and associated with patients suffering from human immunodeficiency virus disease being considered a rare, but opportunistic pathogen [50]. To the best of our knowledge, the research dealing with P. stutzeri and ionic liquids was mostly focused on the improvement of bioremediation technologies [35]. This work will be focused on the screening for FIL-based antibacterial compounds, supported by the bacterial growth and hemocompatibility assays.…”

Testing True Choline Ionic Liquid Biocompatibility from a Biotechnological Standpoint

“…The renaissance of ionic liquids as the corner stone of green chemistry has spurred their application in a virtually unlimited range of disciplines like biotechnology or chemical engineering, in disparate tasks such as biopolymer dissolution, ultrafast rechargeable batteries, or remediation processes . Due to this, the ionic liquids market is expected to go from 10 000 tons in 2014 to about 52 000 in 2022 .…”