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Interactions of microorganisms with rare earth ions and their utilization for separation and environmental technology

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Abstract

In recent years, rare earth elements (REEs) have been widely used in various modern technological devices and the global demand for REE has been increasing. The increased demand for REEs has led to environmental exposure or water pollution from rare earth metal mines and various commercial products. Therefore, the development of a safe technology for the separation and adsorption of REEs is very important from the perspective of green chemistry and environmental pollution. In this review, the application and mechanisms of microorganisms for the removal and extraction of REEs from aqueous solutions are described. In addition, the advantages in using microorganisms for REE adsorption and future studies on this topic are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

A part of this work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C; 19580085 and 23580107) and grants from the Kurata Memorial Hitachi Science and Technology Foundation, the Nagase Science and Technology Foundation, the Research Foundation for the Electrotechnology of Chubu, and Institute for Fermentation, Osaka to H.Y.

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  1. Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Division of Applied Biology, Shinshu University, 3-15-1, Tokida, Ueda, 386-8567, Japan

    Hiroshi Moriwaki & Hiroki Yamamoto

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  1. Hiroshi Moriwaki
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  2. Hiroki Yamamoto
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Correspondence to Hiroshi Moriwaki.

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Moriwaki, H., Yamamoto, H. Interactions of microorganisms with rare earth ions and their utilization for separation and environmental technology. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97, 1–8 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4519-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4519-9

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