Application of Microbial Technology in Ecological Remediation of Mines

25.6K
views
71
authors
6
articles
Editors
5
Impact
Loading...

As humans explore and settle in space, they will need to mine elements to support industries such as manufacturing and construction. In preparation for the establishment of permanent human settlements across the Solar System, we conducted the ESA BioRock experiment on board the International Space Station to investigate whether biological mining could be accomplished under extraterrestrial gravity conditions. We tested the hypothesis that the gravity (g) level influenced the efficacy with which biomining could be achieved from basalt, an abundant material on the Moon and Mars, by quantifying bioleaching by three different microorganisms under microgravity, simulated Mars and Earth gravitational conditions. One element of interest in mining is vanadium (V), which is added to steel to fabricate high strength, corrosion-resistant structural materials for buildings, transportation, tools and other applications. The results showed that Sphingomonas desiccabilis and Bacillus subtilis enhanced the leaching of vanadium under the three gravity conditions compared to sterile controls by 184.92 to 283.22%, respectively. Gravity did not have a significant effect on mean leaching, thus showing the potential for biomining on Solar System objects with diverse gravitational conditions. Our results demonstrate the potential to use microorganisms to conduct elemental mining and other bioindustrial processes in space locations with non-1 × g gravity. These same principles apply to extraterrestrial bioremediation and elemental recycling beyond Earth.

12,776 views
28 citations
Recommended Research Topics
Frontiers Logo

Frontiers in Microbiology

New and Emerging Trends of Biotechnology in Bioremediation
Edited by Varenyam Achal, Maria Dittrich, Abhijit Mukherjee
294.1K
views
125
authors
29
articles
Frontiers Logo

Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiotechnology Tools for Wastewater Cleanup and Organic Solids Reduction
Edited by Mayur B. Kurade, Mukesh Kumar Awasthi, Sanjay Prabhu Govindwar, Byong-Hun Jeon, Dayanand C Kalyani
43.9K
views
9
articles
Frontiers Logo

Frontiers in Microbiology

Advances in Bioleaching and Bioremediation
Edited by Ruiyong Zhang, Tangfu Xiao, Jianyu Zhu, Qian Li, Wolfgang Sand, Margarete Kalin
75.4K
views
160
authors
21
articles
Frontiers Logo

Frontiers in Microbiology

Green Nanomaterials: Prospective Biotechnological Applications
Edited by Mohamed Hijri, Amr Fouda, Arnab Bhowmik, Saad El-Din Hassan
17.6K
views
33
authors
6
articles
Frontiers Logo

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

Advanced Bioremediation Technologies and Processes for the Treatment of Synthetic Organic Compounds (SOCs), Volume II
Edited by Datta Madamwar, Chirayu Desai, Kunal R. Jain, Eric D. van Hullebusch
11.9K
views
27
authors
5
articles