Isolation and identification of a high-efficiency hexavalent uranium adsorption strain and preliminary study of the influencing factors and adsorption mechanism.

In this study, a bacterial strain Chryseobacterium bernardetii WK-3 was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of a uranium tailings in Southern China. It can efficiently adsorb hexavalent uranium with an adsorption ratio of 92.3%. The influence of different environmental conditions on the adsorption ratio of Chryseobacterium bernardetii strain WK-3 was investigated, and the adsorption mechanism was preliminarily discussed by scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDS). The results showed that the optimal adsorption conditions for U(VI) by Chryseobacterium bernardetii strain WK-3 were pH = 5, temperature 30 ℃, NaCl concentration 1%, and inoculation volume 10%. When the initial concentration of U was 50 ~ 150 mg/L, the adsorption capacity of Chryseobacterium bernardetii strain WK-3 to U(VI) reached the maximum and maintained the equilibrium at 44 h. SEM–EDS results showed that phosphorus in cells participates in the interaction of uranyl ions, which may indicate that phosphate was produced during cell metabolism and was further combined to form U(VI)-phosphate minerals. In summary, Chryseobacterium bernardetii strain WK-3 would be a promising alternative for environmental uranium contamination remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]