Removal of Cadmium and Lead from Contaminated Soils Using Sophorolipids from Fermentation Culture of Starmerella bombicola CGMCC 1576 Fermentation

Xiaoyu Qi, Xiaoming Xu, Chuanqing Zhong, Tianyi Jiang, Wei Wei and Xin Song
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Xiaoyu Qi: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan 250101, China
Xiaoming Xu: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan 250101, China
Chuanqing Zhong: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan 250101, China
Tianyi Jiang: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan 250101, China
Wei Wei: Environmental Monitoring Center of Shandong Province, Jinan 250101, China
Xin Song: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Bin Hai Road 72, Qingdao 266237, China

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-12

Abstract: Soil contaminated with Cd and Pb has caused sharp decrease of cultivatable soil and has been attracting increasing attention. Biosurfactants are efficient in solving the problem. However, little information is available about the influence of sophorolipids (SLs) on the remediation of Cd- or Pb-contaminated soil. The sophorolipids produced by Starmerella bombicola CGMCC 1576 were used to study the effects of Cd and Pb removal in batch soil washing from artificially contaminated soil. The removal efficiency of crude total SLs was better than both distilled water and synthetic surfactants. Furthermore, 83.6% of Cd and 44.8% of Pb were removed by 8% crude acidic SLs. Acidic SLs with high water solubility were more effective than lactonic SLs in enhancing remediation of heavy metal-contaminated soils. The complexation of Cd with the free carboxyl group of the acidic SLs was observed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy study, and this complexation was effective in heavy metal removal from the soil. The fermentation broth of S. bombicola , without further preparation, removed 95% of Cd and 52% of Pb. These results suggested that SLs produced by S. bombicola could function as potential bioremediation agents for heavy metal-contaminated soil.

Keywords: sophorolipids; cadmium; lead; contaminated soil; bioremediation; Starmerella bombicola CGMCC 1576 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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