Development of a novel myconanomining approach for the recovery of agriculturally important elements from jarosite waste

doi:10.1016/j.jes.2017.09.017

Journal of Environmental Sciences

Volume 67, May 2018, Pages 356-367

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.09.017 Get rights and content

Abstract

In this study, an ecofriendly and economically viable waste management approach have been attempted towards the biosynthesis of agriculturally important nanoparticles from jarosite waste. Aspergillus terreus strain J4 isolated from jarosite (waste from Debari Zinc Smelter, Udaipur, India), showed good leaching efficiency along with nanoparticles (NPs) formation under ambient conditions. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed the formation of NPs. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX analysis) showed strong signals for zinc, iron, calcium and magnesium, with these materials being leached out. TEM analysis and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) showed semi-quasi spherical particles having average size of 10‐50 nm. Thus, a novel biomethodology was developed using fungal cell-free extract for bioleaching and subsequently nanoconversion of the waste materials into nanostructured form. These biosynthesized nanoparticles were tested for their efficacy on seed emergence activity of wheat (Triticum aestivum) seeds and showed enhanced growth at concentration of 20 ppm. These nanomaterials are expected to enhance plant growth properties and being targeted as additives in soil fertility and crop productivity enhancement.

Graphical abstract

Introduction

Presently, an annual production of approximately 960 million tonnes (MT) of solid waste as by-products of processes like industrial, mining, agricultural and municipal has been reported in India. Out of this, around 4.5 MT are considered to be hazardous in nature (Rathore et al., 2014). Jarosite is one such important solid waste material, which is generated during the hydrometallurgical metallic zinc extraction process of zinc industries. Currently, substantial quantity of jarosite waste is being generated universally and China, Canada, USA, Japan, Australia, Spain, Holland, France, Yugoslavia, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Norway, Germany, Argentina, Belgium and India are top producers (Pappu et al., 2011). Approximately 2.5 MT of such zinc residues are being disposed of per annum globally (Asokan, 2007, Asokan et al., 2006). About 0.25 MT of jarosite is released in India per annum (Rathore et al.,2014).

The generated jarosite waste is hazardous in nature due to the presence of toxic heavy metals (Al, Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb etc.) and is posing severe hazards to the exposed abiotic and biotic components of the ecosystem. In order to avoid environmental problems caused by the leaching of heavy metals from jarosite waste, researchers are developing methods/technologies for its management (Katsioti et al., 2006, Vyas, 2011). In the last two decades, various jarosite waste management strategies have been developed by researchers for their safe disposal and application like the development of landfill, construction and ceramic materials. Each management strategy has its own advantages and disadvantages, and these are non-renewable in nature and require large scale set up (Acharya et al., 1992, Katsioti et al., 2006). The reported method in this paper is an alternative ecofriendly biological approach to the existing physico-chemical methods of jarosite waste management.

The biological approach based on interactions between fungi and metallic elements/compounds has been well established, and the inherent ability of fungi to extract and/or bioaccumulate metallic elements/compounds is already applied in biotechnological processes such as bioleaching and bioremediation. As an outcome of research in the nanoparticles biosynthesis field, it has been reported that fungi possess inherent capability to synthesize metallic nanostructured materials by the intra- or extra-cellular reduction of metallic elements/compounds (Mishra and Rhee, 2010, Ren et al., 2009, Santhiya and Ting, 2005). As a novel method, myconanomining (Fungi mediated bioleaching and conversion of bulk metallic elements/compounds into nanostructures) is considered safe and ecologically benign for the conversion of bulk inorganic (metal based) materials into nanostructured forms.

In this myconanomining approach, the use of fungal biomass aqueous extract containing secretome for bioleaching from collected jarosite waste materials and subsequent biosynthesis of nanoparticles (plant nutrients Fe and Zn) is a possibility that has not been applied extensively. The use of myconanomining for bioleaching and biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles from jarosite waste can offer several advantages over other environmental biological process, such as: (i) more biomass production, (ii) fungal secretome contains large amounts of extracellular proteins with diverse functions, (iii) more biosorption of metallic elements/compounds at low pH and (iv) high metal reducing activity of secretome.

Therefore, considering the importance and future scope of myconanomining approaches, the following objectives have been formulated for this study (i) Total metal analysis of jarosite waste using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy technique; (ii) Isolation and characterization of promising fungal strain for myconanomining from jarosite waste using culture enrichment technique; (iii) Bioleaching and biosynthesis of plant nanonutrients via myconanomining approach using Aspergillus terreus strain J4 and (iv) in-vitro assessment as a nutrient use efficacy of biosynthesized metal nanoparticles on wheat using seed emergence promoting activity.

Section snippets

Chemicals and medium

All chemicals (analytical grade) used in this study were from Fischer Scientific (Mumbai, India). Potato dextrose agar, Potato dextrose broth, Mycological peptone, and Agar Extra pure were purchased from HiMedia (Mumbai, India) sterilized by autoclaving at 120 °C for 15 min at 15 Pa before use. Wheat (Triticum aestivum) seeds (Raj 3765 variety from Rajasthan, India) were purchased and stored in a dry place.

Jarosite waste sample collection and their elemental, mineralogical and structural analysis

The jarosite waste was procured from the Debari Zinc smelter plant of Hindustan Zinc Limited

Characterization of jarosite waste

The elemental and morphological characteristics of collected jarosite waste were determined by AAS and TEM techniques, respectively. The metal content of jarosite waste of HZL determined by AAS is shown in Table 1. It was observed to mainly contain zinc (~ 34,000 ppm), iron (~ 38,000 ppm), sulfur (~ 11,000 ppm) and lead (~ 14,000 ppm), along with trace elements like copper and aluminium. The results are presented as mean ± SD of samples setup in triplicates. Heterogeneity was observed when the data

Conclusion

The present study indicates the bioleaching potential of A. terreus strain J4 from jarosite. The NPs synthesized range from 10 to 50 nm with an average size range of 15 ± 5 nm. They showed good effect on seedling's growth at low concentration of 20 ppm as compared to higher concentrations and control. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind. This finding can be further used synthesizing green protein-capped metal nanoparticles with potential cost efficacy.

Acknowledgements

We duly acknowledge Ms. Deeprajni for HPLC, Ms. Shikha Sherawat for SEM, Mr. Ranjit and Mr. Palak Agarwal for AAS and Mr. Chandrakant Tripathi and Mr. Aditya Gaur for TEM analysis. Dr. Sashidhar Burla and Ms. Richa Chaturvedi are also acknowledged for assisting in molecular work. The fellowship provided by Deakin University, Australia and infrastructure support extended by The Energy and Resources Institute, India is also duly acknowledged.

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The peaks around 1630 and 1430 cm−1 were attributed to the amide I and NH vibrations of the NH4+ functional group in jarosite (Bedi et al., 2018). The four peaks observed around 1200, 1086, 1009 and 632 cm−1 represented the SO bending vibration of jarosite (Bedi et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2018b). No obvious characteristic peak of jarosite appeared in the sterile oxidation residues, while strong characteristic peaks of jarosite appeared in the biooxidation residues, indicating that a large amount of jarosite accumulated on the surface of chalcopyrite during the process of biooxidation.
Humic acid has the advantages of wide source, easy availability and environmental friendliness, which may be a good choice for inhibiting chalcopyrite biooxidation and alleviating copper pollution. However, there are few researches on the inhibitory effect and mechanism of humic acid on the biooxidation of chalcopyrite. In order to fill this knowledge gap, this study proposed and validated a novel method for inhibiting chalcopyrite biooxidation by means of humic acid. The results showed that the biooxidation of chalcopyrite could be effectively inhibited by humic acid, which consequently decreased the release of copper ions. Humic acid with a concentration of 120 ppm had the best inhibitory effect, which reduced the biooxidation efficiency of chalcopyrite from 40.7 ± 0.5 % to 29.3 ± 0.8 %. This in turn suggested that humic acid could effectively suppress the pollution of copper under these conditions. The analysis results of solution parameters, mineral surface morphology, mineral phases and element composition showed that humic acid inhibited the growth of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, promoted the formation of jarosite and intensified the passivation of chalcopyrite, which effectively hindered the biooxidation of chalcopyrite, and would help to alleviate the pollution of copper.
Spontaneous separation of Pb from PbSO<inf>4</inf>-coprecipitated jarosite using freeze-thaw cycling with thiourea
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To separate Pb from PbSO₄-coprecipitated jarosite, a novel thiourea-induced freeze-thaw cycling (T-FTC) process was investigated. Results show that distributed PbSO₄ particles are pressed and aggregated around the jarosite particles by T-FTC. Under the freezing-concentration effect of T-FTC, the reaction between PbSO₄ and thiourea is also promoted, forming lead thiourea sulfate (Pb-tu). As the cycles of T-FTC increase, PbSO₄ around jarosite disappears for the reaction of forming Pb-tu. After 12 cycles of T-FTC, a spontaneous separation is observed between Pb-tu and jarosite, i.e., Pb-tu is separated into the upper layer while jarosite-rich phases remain in the lower layer. Due to this spontaneous separation, leaching toxicity of the jarosite coprecipitates is reduced by 73.7%. These results suggest that T-FTC process can achieve the separation of Pb from PbSO₄-coprecipitated jarosite and is a promising approach for removing and recovering metals from iron-rich jarosite residues.
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The strain Aspergillus terreus was used for the leaching of jarosite and the production of nanoparticles which can be used for agricultural applications. The biosynthesized particles were tested for their influence on seed emergence and it was shown that the growth of wheat plants was significantly enhanced (Bedi et al., 2018). The production of magnetite or hematite from iron precipitation residues provides significant advantages as it has positive influence on the landfill situation in case of disposing the products.
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An absorption peak observed at 1423 cm−1 could be attributed to the NH vibration of NH4+ functional group of jarosite (Bedi et al., 2018). Four peaks at 1195, 1080, 1001 and 628 cm−1 correspond to the SO bending vibration in jarosite (Bedi et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2018b). No related characteristic peak of jarosite was observed in the original chalcopyrite, indicating that the chalcopyrite has high purity and contains almost no jarosite.
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An intense broadband was observed at 3394–3433 cm−1 corresponding to the OH stretch of jarosite (Gan et al., 2017). The peaks at 1637, 1425 cm−1 could be assigned to the amide I and NH vibration of NH4+ functional group of jarosite (Bedi et al., 2018). Four peaks appeared near 1196, 1084, 1005 and 631 cm−1, which represented the SO bending vibration of jarosite (Bedi et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2018b).
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Development of a novel myconanomining approach for the recovery of agriculturally important elements from jarosite waste

Abstract

Graphical abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Chemicals and medium

Jarosite waste sample collection and their elemental, mineralogical and structural analysis

Characterization of jarosite waste

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Hydrometallurgy

Bioresour. Technol.

J. Mol. Biol.

J. Hazard. Mater.

J. Biotechnol.

J. Chromatogr. B Biomed. Sci. Appl.

Hydrometallurgy

J. Hazard. Mater.

Crop. Prot.

Soil Biol. Biochem.

J. Clean. Prod.

J. Microbiol. Methods

Constr. Build. Mater.

J. Hazard. Mater.

J. Biotechnol.

Cem. Concr. Res.

PCR Protocols

Plant Sci.

Vigor determination in soybean seed by multiple criteria

Crop Sci.

Bioleaching of bauxite by Penicillium simplicissimum. OnLine

J. Biol. Sci.

Application of some Inorganic Residues in Management of Hazardous Jarosite Waste

Synthesis and characterization of zinc oxide nanoparticles: application to textiles as UV-absorbers

J. Nanopart. Res.