Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Marinobactins are a suite of amphiphilic siderophores (microbial iron-chelators) produced by Marinobacter sp. They belong to the hydroxamate class of siderophores and are composed of peptidic group linked with fatty acid chain that varies in length and saturation. Amphiphilic nature of these siderophores and metal complexation ability make them an interesting molecule for an application in the flotation process. In this work, marinobactin was investigated as a potential Gallium (Ga) collector in an ion flotation process. Single metal flotation test suggested the Ga recovery and marinobactin-Ga complexation in the collected concentrates was confirmed by HPLC. Further, preliminary flotation test with metal mixture (1mM) containing both Ga and Arsenic (As) revealed nearly 60% and 24% recovery of Ga and As respectively, at pH 7 and 0.5mM marinobactin concentration. This study shows the feasibility of employing novel siderophores in the ion flotation process for the recovery of metals from low concentrated wastewater.