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Cleanup of industrial effluents containing heavy metals: a new opportunity of valorising the biomass produced by brewing industry

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Abstract

Heavy metal pollution is a matter of concern in industrialised countries. Contrary to organic pollutants, heavy metals are not metabolically degraded. This fact has two main consequences: its bioremediation requires another strategy and heavy metals can be indefinitely recycled. Yeast cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are produced at high amounts as a by-product of brewing industry constituting a cheap raw material. In the present work, the possibility of valorising this type of biomass in the bioremediation of real industrial effluents containing heavy metals is reviewed. Given the auto-aggregation capacity (flocculation) of brewing yeast cells, a fast and off-cost yeast separation is achieved after the treatment of metal-laden effluent, which reduces the costs associated with the process. This is a critical issue when we are looking for an effective, eco-friendly, and low-cost technology. The possibility of the bioremediation of industrial effluents linked with the selective recovery of metals, in a strategy of simultaneous minimisation of environmental hazard of industrial wastes with financial benefits from reselling or recycling the metals, is discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioengineering Laboratory-CIETI, Chemical Engineering Department, ISEP-School of Engineering of Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Rua Dr António Bernardino de Almeida, 431, 4200-072, Porto, Portugal

    Eduardo V. Soares

  2. IBB-Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre for Biological Engineering, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    Eduardo V. Soares

  3. REQUIMTE-Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering of Porto University, Rua Dr Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Helena M. V. M. Soares

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  1. Eduardo V. Soares
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  2. Helena M. V. M. Soares
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Soares, E.V., Soares, H.M.V.M. Cleanup of industrial effluents containing heavy metals: a new opportunity of valorising the biomass produced by brewing industry. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97, 6667–6675 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-013-5063-y

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