Metal Biorecovery And Bioremediation: Whether Or Not Thermophilic Are Better Than Mesophilic Microorganisms

CASTRO CAMILA; URBIETA MARÍA SOFIA; PLAZA CAZÓN JOSEFINA; DONATI EDGARDO

BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2019 vol. 279 p. 317 - 326

0960-8524

Biotechnology comprises any technological application using microbial catalysis of different processes; usually biotechnological processes provide some advantages regarding to the traditional technologies such as higher/better results with economic and environmental sustainability. Since an increase in temperature typically increases the chemical kinetics (due to their relatively large activation energies), biotechnological processes should be also enhanced replacing mesophilic microorganisms by thermophiles/ hyperthermophiles. That is why the last are usually preferred over the former for many biotechnological applications. However, other issues like the process stability, flexibility and resistance of the thermophiles compared with mesophiles should be also taken in account for each case. Metal mobilization and metal immobilization catalyzed by microbial action are key processes in environmental biotechnology. Metal mobilization from ores, mining wastes or solid residues can be used for recovering metals and/or remediating polluted environments; on the other hand, metal immobilization reduces their migration, cleans up effluents, groundwater, and surface water and, in addition, can help to concentrate and recover metals. In this review the thermophilic and mesophilic microbial performances are critically analyzed and compared in recent and selected representative cases of metal bioremediation (bioprecipitation, biosorption, and biooxidoreduction) and metal biorecovery (bioleaching/biooxidation).