Recipient Organization
STATE UNIV OF NEW YORK
(N/A)
SYRACUSE,NY 13210
Performing Department
Chemistry
Non Technical Summary
OVERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION OF MUL Tl-CAMPUS SUNY RESEARCH TEAMThe enclosed proposal builds upon a previous SUNY 4E B-E award to Nathaniel Cady focused on"biomimicry" or bio-inspired scientific and engineering solutions to 4E objectives. The current category Aproposal will address water remediation with an emphasis on enabling the environmental, economic, andeducational elements of the 4E vision while implementing the biomimicry approach. The effort will includeintellectual contributions from members at The College of Nanoscience and Engineering (CNSE; NathanielCady, Laura Schultz, Magnus Bergkvist, Eric Eisenbraun), the University at Albany (James Schwab, HelenGhiradella, Rabi Musah, David Anderson), SUNY-ESF (Christopher Nomura, Paul Hirsch), and the Universityat Buffalo (Blaine Pfeifer). However. the primary research component of this award will be driven bv Ors.Cadv. Pfeifer. and Nomura. Team strength is highlighted through accomplishments in accompanyingbiosketches. In addition, the establishment of the biomimicry working group has allowed for previousdiscussions, research direction, and early rapport between investigators of this proposal.Awarded Start Date: 6/1/15Sponsor Name: Corporate Funded
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Specific Aim 1: Remove and Recover the Metal Content of Wastewater Effluents Using Yersiniabactinand Engineered Analogues (Ors. Pfeifer and Nomura)Specific Aim 2: Apply Biosorption Processing for Manufacturing Wastewater Treatment (Dr. Cady)Specific Aim 3: Stack Technologies for Removal of Metals from Wastewater (Cady, Pfeifer, Nomura)The goal of this aim is to combine the two independent technologies for maximal metal remova romwastewater. There may be an advantage to pre-treat waste streams with the Ybt methodology prior to biofilmtreatments to avoid toxicity issues for the bacteria producing the biofilms. On the other hand, the biofilms maybe a good first treatment to remove non-specific metals or other components that inhibit the specificity of theYbt system in order to maximize recovery of specific valuable metals. Once baselines for metal removal areestablished in the first two aims, we will stagger the treatment of a similar waste stream with the two methodsin order to improve overall metal removal. An advantage of both the Ybt approach (Aim 1) and the biofilmapproach (Aim 2) is that removed metals can be eluted/released and potentially reused. Total recovery, aswell as the concentration ratio (i.e., original wastewater volume vs. concentrated volume of eluted metal) willbe determined.
Project Methods
Aim 1: Building upon the preliminarydata introduced above, proposed experimental plans will introduce Ybt and analogue XAD beads towastewater samples provided by Precious Plate. Ybt- and analogue XAD beads (40 mg) will then be added tosmall-scale (1 O ml) samples of wastewater resulting from a variety of plating applications being conducted byPrecious Plate. Incubation will occur at 30°C, and after specific time points, beads will be separated (by gravity settling). The metal content of the wastewater samples before and after treatement will be measured using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) recently acquired by co-PI Dr. Cady.In this approach, the cost associated with XAD beads may offset the benefits offered by the heterologous production of Ybt and associated analogues. To address this concern, Dr. Nomura will use biopolymer synthesis approaches developed in his laboratory to provide alrernative matrices to which Ybt and analogues will be adsorbed. Dr. Nomura's biomimicry approach also takes advantage of microbial hosts to generate materials based uponengineering the native biopolymer processes utilized by bacterial organisms7. As such, his contributions toAim 1 will be alternative support materials that replace the chemically-derived XAD resins and allow theoverall approach to then be dependent upon bio-derived production efforts. In particular, the biosyntheticapproach to produce a variety of poly[(R)-3-hydroxyalkanoates] (PHAs) copolymers by Dr. Nomura may betailored towards desired physical properties that mimic the functional properties of XAD.Metal Recovery and Re-use: To improve upon preliminary data, conditions will be tested across pH,temperature, wastewater sample variation, and Ybt analogue design to identify optimized removal capacity. Inaddition, treatment efforts will also be extended to larger-scale (0.1-1 L) wastewater samples in preparationfor plans to recovery and re-use sequestered metals. Namely, the first strategy to be pursued when trying torecover metal from Ybt-metal polymer beads will be to remove the Ybt-metal complex using methanol. Thisapproach is based upon our preliminary data in which 90% of Ybt is removed from XAD beads when washedwith methanol (Figure 28). The m~tal could then be recovered from Ybt via pH variation to eliminatechelation8'9. Variation in pH will also be applied to Ybt-metal complexes while Ybt is still attached to thepolymer bead so as to remove the recovered metal while re-generating the Ybt-polymer particle for futurewastewater treatment. Each of these approaches will also be applied to different Ybt analogue polymerbeads. Once free metal has been recovered in solution, it will be recycled back to electroplating processes atPrecious Plate. If needed, purification steps (using pH-based separations 10-12) will be used to enrich certainrecovered metals for coating purposes.Aim 2: Preliminary data identified biofilm consortia containing the bacteria L. casei and the fungi P. pastoris as an effective copper binding agent and a stable absorbate within a laboratory-scale continous flow filtration system for the removal of dissolved copper from CMP wastewater. We will therefore first determine the ability of the L. caseilP. pastoris biofilm to bind additional metals commonly found within CMP waste streams (Ni, Ta, Ti, W) and new materials that are beingused in the industry (As, In, Ga, Sb). Since this aim will serve as a proof-of-concept study, we will only focus ·on mock metal solutions which we can produce from commercially available sources. Biofilms will be grown inthe GAC column format before biofilm-coated granules are removed from the column and used for metalbinding experiments in small batches (100 ml or smaller). We will measure binding vs. time data by removingsmall (100 μl - 1 ml) samples from the exposure container over an 8 hr period and assessing water metalcontent using our in-house ICP-MS system.Upon testing the potential of L. casei!P. pastoris biofilms, we will next identify alternative microorganismswith altered and/or improved metal removal efficiency. A library of microorganisms suggested in theliterature 15, in addition to multiple bacterial strains available to the Cady group, will be cultured and screenedfor their ability to sequester CMP metals. This will be done by exposing inert cultured biomass to solutionscontaining known concentrations of target metals and subsequently measuring the remaining concentrationsvia ICP-MS.Determine the Survivability, Stability, and Applicability of Biofi/ms for CMP Wastewater Treatment:One key advantage of a biomass-based approach to wastewater treatment is the potential for continuousrenewal of the biomass, negating or minimizing the need for costly adsorbate replacement. Our previous workwith copper remediation showed that the L. casei/P. pastoris biofilms survived exposure to wastewatersolutions containing up to 50 ppm Cu2+ concentrations. However, this same capacity will be tested with theadditional CMP-associated metals mentioned above. Thus, we propose to determine the toxic threshold forbiofilm consortia per metal. Initially, we will grow biofilms containing the organisms identified above in 96-wellplates, expose to a range of metal concentrations, and perform a live/dead assay to determine lethal doseconcentrations. Confocal microscopy will also be used to investigate biofilm morphology and assess anyeffect upon the structure or surface attachment of the biofilm.Finally, we will work.in collaboration with IBM to obtain samples of actual CMP wastewater generated atCNSE for biosorption treatment. Time permitting, we will also test water samples from Precious Plate(likewise, the Pfeifer group will test the Aim 1 approach using IBM samples). We will extend our biofilmviability and stability studies to include the testing of these real-world wastewater samples.Aim 3: The goal of this aim is to combine the two independent technologies for maximal metal remova romwastewater. There may be an advantage to pre-treat waste streams with the Ybt methodology prior to biofilmtreatments to avoid toxicity issues for the bacteria producing the biofilms. On the other hand, the biofilms maybe a good first treatment to remove non-specific metals or other components that inhibit the specificity of theYbt system in order to maximize recovery of specific valuable metals. Once baselines for metal removal areestablished in the first two aims, we will stagger the treatment of a similar waste stream with the two methodsin order to improve overall metal removal. An advantage of both the Ybt approach (Aim 1) and the biofilmapproach (Aim 2) is that removed metals can be eluted/released and potentially reused. Total recovery, aswell as the concentration ratio (i.e., original wastewater volume vs. concentrated volume of eluted metal) willbe determined.