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Marine Fungi as Potential Eco-Sustainable Resource for Precious Metals Recovery from Electronic Waste

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Abstract

The recovery of valuable metals from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEE or e-waste) might be achieved by bioleaching, a microbial-based technology which can substitute in the future chemical-based processes, reducing environmental impacts. Although marine fungi are still little exploited for such purposes, they are potential interesting targets. In the present study, we isolated marine fungi from contaminated sediments collected in two coastal areas (Bagnoli-Coroglio Bay, Italy; Bilbao estuary, Spain) and identified four high tolerant fungal taxa to high concentration of e-waste (100 g L−1). Such fungal taxa, belonging to the fungal families Dipodascaceae, Microascaceae, Gymnoascaceae and Trichocomaceae, were tested for their bioleaching and bioaccumulation potential of metals present in e-waste, using different experimental approaches. Results reported here indicate that the fungi are able to bioaccumulate metals released from e-waste with an efficiency depending from fungal strains and metals considered. Among precious elements, platinum was highly concentrated within fungal biomass (31–62%) across all strains. Our findings provide new insights on the potential of marine fungi inhabiting highly contaminated marine sediments as promising candidates to be used for the recovery of precious metals from electronic waste.

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Data Availability

The datasets used and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

e-waste:

Electrical and electronic equipment

ABS:

Access and benefit sharing

ITS:

Internal transcribed spacer

18S rRNA:

18S ribosomal RNA

MEE:

Metal extraction experiment

BE:

Biomass experiment

CE:

Chemotaxis experiment

Fe:

Iron

Cu:

Copper

Pd:

Palladium

Ag:

Silver

Pt:

Platinum

Au:

Gold

ICP-MS:

Inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry

RGR:

Radial growth rate

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Department of Civil and Building Engineering and Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Marche for their support in providing crushed e-waste. The authors thank technical and human support provided by SGIker (UPV/EHU/ ERDF, EU).

Funding

This research was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 730984, “ASSEMBLE Plus” project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Biotechnology, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, National Institute of Biology, Ecology and Marine Biotechnology, Calabrian Researches Centre and Marine Advanced Infrastructures, C.da Torre Spaccata, 87071, Amendolara, CS, Italy

    Christian Galasso

  2. CBET Research Group, Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT-ZTF) and Research Centre for Experimental Marine Biology and Biotechnology (PiE-UPV/EHU), University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), EMBRC-Spain, Areatza Hiribidea 47, 48620, Plentzia, Basque Country, Spain

    Xabier Lekube & Ibon Cancio

  3. Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131, Ancona, Italy

    Antonio Dell’Anno

  4. Department of Marine Biotechnology, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, National Institute of Biology, Ecology and Marine Biotechnology, Villa Comunale 1, Napoli, Italy

    Christophe Brunet & Clementina Sansone

  5. Department of Research Infrastructures for Marine Biological Resources, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Istituto Nazionale di Biologia, Ecologia e Biotecnologie Marine, Fano Marine Centre, Viale Adriatico 1-N, 61032, Fano, Italy

    Michael Tangherlini

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  1. Christian Galasso
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Contributions

CG, ADA, CS and MT designed the experiments; CG, CS and MT performed all experiments; CG, ADA, CS, CB, XL, IC and MT analyzed the data; XL and IC organized and cooperated to Bilbao sampling activity; CG, CS and MT wrote the original draft; CG, XL, IC, ADA, CB, CS and MT reviewed and edited the manuscript; CG, CS and MT collaborated for funding acquisition. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Clementina Sansone.

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Galasso, C., Lekube, X., Cancio, I. et al. Marine Fungi as Potential Eco-Sustainable Resource for Precious Metals Recovery from Electronic Waste. Waste Biomass Valor 13, 967–976 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-021-01587-8

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