This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Schinner, F.
Right arrow Articles by Burgstaller, W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Schinner, F.
Right arrow Articles by Burgstaller, W.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Schinner, F.
Right arrow Articles by Burgstaller, W.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1989 May; 55(5): 1153-1156
Copyright © 1989, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Extraction of Zinc from Industrial Waste by a Penicillium sp

Franz Schinner* and Wolfgang Burgstaller

Institute for Microbiology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

ABSTRACT

Zinc was extracted from a filter residue of a copper works (58.6% zinc) by a Penicillium sp. isolated from a metal-containing location. By isotachophoresis citric acid was identified as the leaching agent. Citrate was only formed when the leaching substrate was present. This production of citrate was different in several ways from that achieved by Aspergillus niger: glucose was utilized before fructose; the initial concentration of zinc was 50 to 500 times higher than usual in citrate fermentations with A. niger; citrate production stopped when 80 to 90% of the zinc was leached, although sufficient sugar for further synthesis was still present; and in synthetic media citrate production by A. niger needs an acidic environment (pH 2), while the formation of citric acid by Penicillium sp. occurred in a pH range of 7 to 4. Tests with different concentrations of waste material (0.5, 2.5, and 5%) showed that the highest yield of solubilized zinc occurred with a 2.5% substrate (93% zinc extracted after 13 days).

FOOTNOTES

* Corresponding author.

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1989 May; 55(5): 1153-1156
Copyright © 1989, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»