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Applications of Bioflocculants for Heavy Metals Removal: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

Heavy metals from various natural and anthropogenic processes have become a main threat to the aquatic environment owing to their hazardous impact. Bioflocculant is a natural organic polymer that is produced by microbes with flocculating capabilities. Compared to chemical flocculants, they are safer, biodegradable, and inexpensive. For decades, a diverse range of bioflocculant has been tested for their ability to remove heavy metals. This review is performed to gather the findings from December 2011 to June 2021 on bioflocculant produced by different bacterial species and their capabilities to remove heavy metals with different influencing factors. Based on defined inclusion criteria including bioflocculant treatment of metals in wastewater and aquatic environments, 35 studies were chosen to be included in this review. The results demonstrated that various microbial species, namely Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp., Paenibacillus sp., Pantoea sp., Proteus sp., Stenotrophomonas sp., Herbaspirillium sp., Halomonas sp., Achromobacter sp., Nocardiopsis sp., Turicibacter sp., Raoultella sp., and mixed bacteria (Cloacibacterium sp., and Rhizobium sp.) have the capability for heavy metal removal through bioflocculation. Important factors influencing heavy metal removal efficiencies among the bacteria include self-microbial properties, pH, bioflocculant dosage, metal concentration, contact time, and temperature. These findings outline the best available options for the utilization of bioflocculant to remove heavy metals in water treatment industries.

Article Highlights

  • This systematic literature review analyzed recent studies focused on bioflocculant for heavy metals removal.

  • Removal of heavy metals from water using bioflocculant was established to be an environmentally friendly and biodegradable approach.

  • Types of bioflocculants that can remove heavy metals and the metal removal efficiencies of bioflocculant affected by factors was summarized.

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Data Availability

All data analyzed are available within the text of this manuscript.

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This study is part of the project financially funded by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) with the grant reference number FRGS/1/2020/WAB02/UPM/02/4 and project number 07-01-20-2238FR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environment, Faculty of Forestry and Environment, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia

    Yang Wang, Hafizah Pushiri, Ley Juen Looi & Zufarzaana Zulkeflee

Authors
  1. Yang Wang
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  2. Hafizah Pushiri
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  3. Ley Juen Looi
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  4. Zufarzaana Zulkeflee
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Contributions

Investigation, data curation, formal analysis, and writing of original draft, YW; method validation, writing and review, supervision, HP; method validation, writing and review, supervision, LJL; conceptualization, funding acquisition, supervision, writing and review, ZZ.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zufarzaana Zulkeflee.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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All authors gave consent for publication in the International Journal of Environmental Research.

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Wang, Y., Pushiri, H., Looi, L.J. et al. Applications of Bioflocculants for Heavy Metals Removal: A Systematic Review. Int J Environ Res 16, 73 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41742-022-00456-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41742-022-00456-z

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