Environmental remediation of copper ions by Mucor rouxii; and the copper-fungal binding mechanisms

Copper is one of the metals widely generated as waste by industrial activities. Utilization of biomaterials for the removal and recovery of metals from aqueous solutions has been proposed by some researchers as an alternative and relatively inexpensive process. Batch and flow laboratory experiments demonstrated that inactivated and immobilized Mucor rouxii biomass was an efficient process for copper removal and recovery from aqueous solution as well as for biomass reuse. Furthermore, these studies supported that the metal binding capacity increases and some morphological alterations are present when the fungi were grown at high concentration of this metal ion. The amino, carboxyl, and sulfhydryl groups present in fungal cells play an important role in copper binding. Mucor rouxii biomass showed to be useful in the removal and recovery of other metal ions. Also calcium and magnesium ions did not interfere with copper or lead binding. A copper-binding low-molecular-weight protein in copper-stressed M. rouxii cells was identified