Simultaneous biosorption and bioethanol production from lead-contaminated media by Mucor indicus

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran.

2 Industrial Biotechnology Group, Research center of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran.

Abstract

Mucor indicus with different morphologies was used for ethanol production and Pb2+ biosorption. With increasing Pb2+ concentration in the cultivation medium, the fungus morphology changed from purely filamentous to mostly filamentous and the biosorption capacity was increased. The maximum adsorption capacity predicted by Langmuir model was 118 mg/g for purely filamentous form. All morphologies were also cultivated in the presence of high Pb2+ concentration (300 mg/L) in consecutive stages. After the first stage of cultivation, the live biomass was separated and cultivated in a new medium similar to the first stage and cultivation was performed within five stages. All morphologies of M. indicus were able to grow and produce ethanol in the presence of lead at all stages but with lower yields than those cultivated in the absence of lead. The highest ethanol yields of 0.46 and 0.35 g ethanol per g consumed glucose were obtained by mostly filamentous morphology at the first and the last stages, respectively. The presence of lead decreased the glucose consumption rate of all morphologies and the yeast-like morphology consumed glucose within a shorter time than the other morphologies. Different morphologies were able to adsorb lead ions considerably (97–99%) within the five consecutive stages.

Graphical Abstract

Simultaneous biosorption and bioethanol production from lead-contaminated media by Mucor indicus

Highlights

  • Simultaneous ethanol production and Pb2+ biosorption by Mucor indicus live biomass was investigated.
  • Cultivation performed within five consecutive stages.
  • Different morphologies of Mucor indicus were cultivated in the presence of Pb2+.
  • Ethanol yields of all morphologies were lower than those on lead-free media.
  • The highest ethanol yields of 0.46 and 0.35 g ethanol/g consumed glucose were obtained by the mostly filamentous morphology.

Keywords