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Uranium speciation and distribution in Shewanella putrefaciens and anaerobic granular sludge in the uranium immobilization process

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Abstract

The uranium (U) in Shewanella putrefaciens (S. putrefaciens) and anaerobic granular sludge (AnGS) were fractionated, and the contents and forms of U in each fraction were investigated. The functional groups of microorganisms for U binding and the deposition of U in microbial aggregates were also analyzed. Four main approaches were found involved in U immobilization, including biosorption/complexation by microbial cells and their extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), non-reductive biomineralization, bioreduction and intracellular accumulation. Results show that non-reductive biomineralization was found to be dominated in the U(VI) immobilization process. Besides, the contribution of EPS to U removal could not be ignored.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21571163, 21407133, 41402248 and 51608498), the key research and development projects of Sichuan science and technology department (No: 2018SZ0298), the science and technology planning projects of Panzhihua science and technology bureau (No. 2017CY-N-8), the Longshan academic research talent support program of Southwest University of Science and Technology (Nos. 17LZX308, 17LZX613, 18LZX638 and 18LZXT03) and the Scientific research project of Sichuan education department (No. 16ZB0150), Nuclear Facility Decommissioning and radioactive waste treatment research project of the State Administration of science, technology and industry of national defense (No. 1521 [2018] of the second division of science and Technology), Southwest University of Science and Technology Natural Science Foundation (No.18zx7125).

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Author notes

  1. Feng-Yu Huang and Hai-Ling Zhang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environment and Resources, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010, Sichuan, China

    Feng-Yu Huang & Fa-Cheng Yi

  2. Institute of Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Jiangyou, 621907, Sichuan, China

    Hai-Ling Zhang, Yong-Peng Wang, He-Xiang Huang & Meng-Xi Cheng

  3. Key Laboratory of Bio-Resources and Eco-Environment of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, Sichuan, China

    Su Feng, Juan Cheng, Wen-Juan Yuan & Jie Zhang

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  1. Feng-Yu Huang
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Contributions

F-CY, SF and H-X Huang designed experiments, and F-YH and H-LZ directed experiments and wrote the manuscript. Y-PW and M-XC performed experiments. J-C, W-JY and JZ helped with the experimentation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Fa-Cheng Yi, Su Feng or He-Xiang Huang.

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Huang, FY., Zhang, HL., Wang, YP. et al. Uranium speciation and distribution in Shewanella putrefaciens and anaerobic granular sludge in the uranium immobilization process. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 326, 393–405 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07279-2

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