Interactions between metals and activated sludge microorganisms substantially affect the speciation, immobilization, transport, and bioavailability of trace heavy metals in biological wastewater treatment plants. In this study, the interaction of Cu(II), a typical heavy metal, onto activated sludge microorganisms was studied in-depth using a multi-technique approach. The complexing structure of Cu(II) on microbial surface was revealed by X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis. EPR spectra indicated that Cu(II) was held in inner-sphere surface complexes of octahedral coordination with tetragonal distortion of axial elongation. XAFS analysis further suggested that the surface complexation between Cu(II) and microbial cells was the distorted inner-sphere coordinated octahedra containing four short equatorial bonds and two elongated axial bonds. To further validate the results obtained from the XAFS and EPR analysis, density functional theory calculations were carried out to explore the structural geometry of the Cu complexes. These results are useful to better understand the speciation, immobilization, transport, and bioavailability of metals in biological wastewater treatment plants.
Interactions between metals and microorganisms play an important role in the geochemical cycling of trace heavy metals. In biological wastewater treatment processes, microorganisms in activated sludge have a high metal complexation capacity and then substantially affect the speciation, immobilization, transport, and bioavailability of metals in biological wastewater treatment plants. Previous study showed that there are many heavy metals (e.g., copper) in municipal and industrial wastewaters 1 . It is of great significance to study the surface complexation of metals on microorganisms and to understand their fates in biological wastewater treatment plants. In addition, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), high-molecular weight compounds secreted by microorganisms, also have a significant impact on the fates of heavy metals 2,3 . The relevant functional groups involved in the interaction between metals and microorganisms are reported to be -COOH, -OH, -NH 2 , and -PO 4 , etc 4 . However, there are contradictory reports about the interaction between heavy metals and microbial cells in the presence and absence of EPS. In some studies it was found that the presence of EPS did not significantly affect the interaction 5 ; while others reported that the presence of EPS had a substantial effect on the interaction 6 . Such a contradiction may be attributed to the different experimental techniques employed in these works. Furthermore, the complicated structures of activated sludge and high water content make it difficult to explore the interaction mechanisms between heavy metals and microbial cells at a microscale. Previous studies showed that activated sludge microorganisms had high complexing capability to Cu [7][8][9] , which was particle-diffusion-controlled, and followed the pseudo-sec...