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Production, recovery and reuse of biogenic elemental selenium

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Abstract

Selenium (Se) has caused several ecological disasters due to its toxicity and bioaccumulation along trophic networks. Industrial activities that process fossil fuels and mineral ores, such as electricity generation, metal extraction and oil refining, produce wastewaters containing selenium. Currently, these wastewaters are insufficiently treated before being discharged into the environment. Several environmental biotechnological processes are used to convert soluble selenium oxyanions, selenite and selenate, to solid elemental selenium, Se(0), because elemental selenium is less toxic. Applying a post-treatment solid–liquid separation step to these biological processes removes and separates Se(0) from the treated effluent. Here, we review the sources of selenium-rich waste streams, and we propose several techniques for the removal and reuse of selenium. The major points are as follows: (1) Biogenic Se(0) has colloidal properties that can be offset by the addition of coagulants, either by dissolving multivalent salts or by electrogenerating the coagulant in situ; (2) recovered biogenic Se(0) is a secondary raw material and (3) biogenic Se(0) can be used for niche applications such as fertilizers and adsorbent for metals. The biological treatment of industrial wastewater containing selenium can be linked with resource recovery as a sound and economic approach to alleviate the demand for this critical element.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful our collaborators Prof. Mehmet Oturan (Université Paris-Est, France) and Prof. Elizabeth Pilon-Smits (Colorado State University, USA) for useful discussions during the preparation of this manuscript. The authors would like to thank the European Commission for providing financial support through the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate Programme ETeCoS3 (Environmental Technologies for Contaminated Solids, Soils and Sediments) under the grant agreement FPA n°2010-0009.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, PO Box 3015, 2601 DA, Delft, The Netherlands

    Lucian C. Staicu & Piet N. L. Lens

  2. Laboratoire Géomatériaux et Environnement (LGE), EA 4508, Université Paris-Est, UPEM, 77454, Marne-la-Vallée, France

    Lucian C. Staicu & Eric D. van Hullebusch

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  1. Lucian C. Staicu
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  2. Eric D. van Hullebusch
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Correspondence to Eric D. van Hullebusch.

Glossary

Anaerobic granular sludge

Biomass in granular form produced by the auto-immobilization of mixed microbial populations and employed for the treatment of wastewater in up flow anaerobic granular sludge reactors

Biogenic

Resulting from the action of a living organism; in the current context, Se nanoparticles produced by the metabolic activity of microorganisms.

Chalcogen

Chemical element in group 16 of the periodic table; i.e., Oxygen (O), Sulfur (S), Selenium (Se), Tellurium (Te) and Polonium (Po). These elements are strongly associated with metal-bearing minerals.

Chemogenic

Resulting from chemical action; in the current context, Se nanoparticles produced through the reduction of Se oxyanions using a chemical reducing agent.

Colloidal system

System containing fine particles dispersed within a continuous medium that cannot be settled easily by gravitation.

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Staicu, L.C., van Hullebusch, E.D. & Lens, P.N.L. Production, recovery and reuse of biogenic elemental selenium. Environ Chem Lett 13, 89–96 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-015-0492-8

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