Vigil Toriana N, Johnson Grayson C, Jacob Sarah G, Spangler Leah C, Berger Bryan W
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903, United States.
Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23284, United States.
Environ Sci Technol. 2024 Sep 12;58(38):16915-21. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.4c06540.
Lithium is a critical mineral in a wide range of current technologies, and demand continues to grow with the transition to a green economy. Current lithium mining and extraction practices are often highly ecologically damaging, in part due to the large amount of water and energy they consume. Biomineralization is a natural process that transforms inorganic precursors to minerals. Microbial biomineralization has potential as an ecofriendly alternative to current lithium extraction techniques. This work demonstrates biomineralization of lithium chloride to lithium hydroxide. Quantitative analysis of biomineralized lithium via the 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-benzoxazole fluorescence assay reveals significantly greater recovery with than without. Furthermore, biomineralization is specific to lithium over sodium. The nanoparticles produced were further characterized via Fourier transform infrared and transmission electron microscopy analysis as crystalline lithium hydroxide, which is an advanced functional material. Finally, ESI-LC/MS was used to identify several proteins involved in this microbial biomineralization process, including the S-layer protein. Through the isolation of ghosts, this work shows that the S-layer protein alone plays a critical role in the biomineralization of crystalline lithium hydroxide nanoparticles. Through this study of microbial biomineralization of lithium with , there is potential to develop innovative and environmentally friendly extraction techniques.
锂是当前众多技术中的关键矿产，随着向绿色经济的转型，其需求持续增长。当前的锂矿开采和提取方法往往对生态环境破坏极大，部分原因在于它们消耗大量的水和能源。生物矿化是一个将无机前体转化为矿物质的自然过程。微生物生物矿化作为当前锂提取技术的一种生态友好型替代方法具有潜力。这项工作展示了将氯化锂生物矿化为氢氧化锂的过程。通过2-(2-羟基苯基)-苯并恶唑荧光测定法对生物矿化锂进行定量分析，结果显示有[具体条件]时的回收率显著高于没有该条件时。此外，生物矿化对锂具有相对于钠的特异性。所产生的纳米颗粒通过傅里叶变换红外光谱和透射电子显微镜分析进一步表征为结晶氢氧化锂，这是一种先进的功能材料。最后，电喷雾电离液相色谱/质谱联用技术用于鉴定参与此微生物生物矿化过程的几种蛋白质，包括S层蛋白。通过分离[具体物质]的“空壳”，这项工作表明仅S层蛋白在结晶氢氧化锂纳米颗粒的生物矿化过程中起关键作用。通过对锂的微生物生物矿化的这项研究，有潜力开发创新且环保的提取技术。
