Bioleaching of heavy metals from printed circuit board (PCB) by Streptomyces albidoflavus TN10 isolated from insect nest

Dhanalashmi Kaliyaraj,Vignesh Angamuthu,Gopikrishnan Venugopal,Manigundan Kaari,Shanmugasundaram Thangavel,Annam Renita Antony,Jerrine Joseph,Menaka Rajendran,Radhakrishnan Manikkam

doi:10.1186/s40643-019-0283-3

Dhanalashmi Kaliyaraj, Vignesh Angamuthu + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40643-019-0283-3

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Abstract

BackgroundE-waste management is extremely difficult to exercise owing to its complexity and hazardous nature. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the core components of electrical and electronic equipment, which generally consist of polymers, ceramics, and heavy metals.ResultsThe present study has been attempted for removal of heavy metals from printed circuit board by metal-resistant actinobacterium Streptomyces albidoflavus TN10 isolated from the termite nest. This bacterium was found to recover different heavy metals (Al 66%, Ca 74%, Cu 68%, Cd 65%, Fe 42%, Ni 81%, Zn 82%, Ag 56%, Pb 46%) within 72 h under laboratory conditions. The metal content of PCB after bioleaching was analyzed by ICP-MS. The crude PCB and bioleaching residue were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM for the determination of structural and functional group changes for confirmation of bioleaching.ConclusionThe findings of the present study concluded that Streptomyces albidoflavus TN10 is a promising candidate for bioleaching of heavy metals from the printed circuit board as an eco-friendly and cost-effective process.

Highlights

Environmental pollution keeps on increasing at an alarming rate due to several man-made activities such as urbanization, technological advancement, unsafe agricultural practices and rapid industrialization (Ojuederie and Babalola 2017)
Among the all microorganisms being selected for bioleaching of metals from printed circuit board (PCB), chemolithoautotrophs are commonly used for metal recovery from PCBs, such as Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Leptospirillum ferrooxidans, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans (Erust et al 2013) and Chromobacterium violaceum (Li et al 2015)
The findings of the current study revealed that pH plays an important role in metal recovery using actinobacterial strain

Summary

Introduction

Environmental pollution keeps on increasing at an alarming rate due to several man-made activities such as urbanization, technological advancement, unsafe agricultural practices and rapid industrialization (Ojuederie and Babalola 2017). Modern life is highly attracted to new and sophisticated electronic equipment with innovative technology. The increasing necessities of mankind, the decreasing cost of electronics and the fast rate at which the outdated units are replaced have given rise to the generation of a new stream of waste known as E-waste which is rising three times higher than the other forms of municipal waste (Adie et al 2014). Printed circuit board is an important and essential component of all electronic and electrical equipment, containing lots of valuable metals together with the number of hazardous metals or minerals which can harm the environment as well as human health (Karwowska et al 2014; Ilyas and Lee 2014; Willner et al 2015). Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the core components of electrical and electronic equipment, which generally consist of polymers, ceramics, and heavy metals

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