Bonding Behavior and Mechanism of U(VI) by Chemically Modified Deinococcus radiodurans

The goal of this study is to understand the role of various functional groups on the cell surface when the microorganisms are exposed to uranium (U(VI)). The biomass of Deinococcus radiodurans was subjected to chemical treatments to modify the carboxyl (-C=O), amino (-NH2), phosphate (-PO2−), and hydroxyl (-OH) groups, as well as the lipid fraction. The behavior and process of U(VI) biosorption by Deinococcus radiodurans were ascertained, followed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses. Carboxyl esterification and amino methylation deteriorated the removal efficiency by 8.0% and 15.5%, respectively, while lipid extraction, phosphate esterification, and hydroxyl methylation improved the removal efficiency by 11.7%, 8.7%, and 4.1%, respectively. The kinetic results revealed that uranium biosorption behavior by the raw and chemically modified biomass fitted well with the model of pseudo-second-order kinetic (R2 = 0.9949~0.9998). FTIR and SEM-EDS indicated that uranium initially bound with the raw and chemically modified Deinococcus radiodurans, which was probably controlled by ion exchange at the first stage, followed by complexation with the -C=O and -NH2 groups, which especially prefer to bond with P and O atoms on the -PO2− group.