Immobilization of chlorine dioxide modified cells for uranium absorption

There has been a trend towards the use of microorganisms to recover metals from industrial wastewater, for which various methods have been reported to be used to improve microorganism adsorption characteristics such as absorption capacity, tolerance and reusability. In present study, chlorine dioxide(ClO₂), a high-efficiency, low toxicity and environment-benign disinfectant, was first reported to be used for microorganism surface modification. The chlorine dioxide modified cells demonstrated a 10.1% higher uranium adsorption capacity than control ones. FTIR analysis indicated that several cell surface groups are involved in the uranium adsorption and cell surface modification. The modified cells were further immobilized on a carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) matrix to improve their reusability. The cell-immobilized adsorbent could be employed either in a high concentration system to move vast UO₂²⁺ ions or in a low concentration system to purify UO₂²⁺ contaminated water thoroughly, and could be repeatedly used in multiple adsorption-desorption cycles with about 90% adsorption capacity maintained after seven cycles. - Highlights: • Chlorine dioxide was first reported to be used for microorganism surface modification. • The chlorine dioxide modified cells demonstrated a 10.1% higher uranium adsorption capacity than control ones. • The chlorine dioxide modified cells were further immobilized by carboxymethylcellulose to improve their reusability