Background:
Microbial-induced remediation of Zn
2+ pollution based on the capture and utilization of carbon
dioxide was investigated. In this study, carbon dioxide was absorbed and transformed into carbonate ions
under the enzymatic action of
Paenibacillus mucilaginosus
, which was being utilized to mineralize Zn
2+.
Results:
The compositional and morphological properties of the precipitations were studied using Fourier
transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD),
and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thermal properties of the precipitates were investigated by
thermogravimetric-differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC). The FTIR results confirmed that the functional
groups of the precipitates were CO
3 2− and OH
−. The XRD and EDS patterns showed that basic zinc carbonate
could be obtained successfully by Microbial-induced remediation. The SEM micrographs demonstrated that
the precipitates were in the nanometer range with sizes of 100–200 nm and were sphere-like in shape.
Conclusions:
The TG-DSC results showed that weight loss of the precipitates occurred around 253°C. The FTIR and
TG-DSC results were in accord with the XRD and EDS results and proved again that the precipitates were basic
zinc carbonate. This work thus demonstrates a new method for processing Zn
2+ pollution based on the
utilization of carbon dioxide.
