Feasibility of copper uptake by the yeast Pichia guilliermondii isolated from sewage sludge

Abstract

Copper is one of the most abundant toxic heavy metals in municipal wastewaters and, in consequence, in sewage sludge and compost. The ability of a strain of the yeast Pichia guilliermondii, which was isolated from sewage sludge, to eliminate copper has been evaluated, using both viable and nonviable biomass. It has been found that raising concentrations of copper affected both morphology and physiological parameters of the viable yeast, and it is thought that a process of bioaccumulation may be involved in its copper uptake. The growth rate of nonadapted cells decreased with increasing concentrations of copper, mainly due to a decrease in the biomass yield. The cells could be adapted by training with increasing copper concentrations up to 317.7 mg/l. This adaptation was an all-or-nothing process: once cells had adapted, the biomass yield, metabolic flux and consequent growth rate were constant and independent of the external copper concentration. Also, it was determined that up to 20 mg of copper per gram of viable adapted biomass could accumulate from the medium (i.e., double the amount when using nonadapted viable biomass). Finally, adsorption data on nonviable cells were found to be well modeled by the Langmuir isotherm ( q max=9.09 mg/g of biomass).