Seifan, M., Samani, A. K., & Berenjian, A. (2017). New insights into the role of pH and aeration in the bacterial production of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃). Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 101(8), 3131–3142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-017-8109-8
Abstract
Over recent years, the implementation of microbially produced calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) in different industrial and environmental applications has become an alternative for conventional approaches to induce CaCO₃ precipitation. However, there are many factors affecting the biomineralization of CaCO₃, which may restrict its application. In this study, we investigated the effects of pH and aeration as the main two influential parameters on bacterial precipitation of CaCO₃. The results showed that the aeration had a significant effect on bacterial growth and its rise from 0.5 to 4.5 SLPM could produce 4.2 times higher CaCO₃ precipitation. The increase of pH to 12 resulted in 6.3-fold increase in CaCO₃ precipitation as compared to uncontrolled-pH fermentation. Morphological characterization showed that the pH is an effective parameter on CaCO₃ morphology. Calcite was found to be the predominant precipitate during aeration-controlled fermentations, while vaterite was mainly produced at lower pH (up to 10) over controlled-pH fermentations. Further increase in pH resulted in a morphological transition, and vaterite transformed to calcite at the pH ranges between 10 and 12.
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© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017.This is the author's accepted version. The final publication is available at Springer via dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00253-017-8109-8
