Enhancement of uranium(VI) biomineralization by Saccharomyces cerevisiae through addition of inorganic phosphorus

Enhancement of U(VI) biomineralization by Saccharomyces cerevisiae through addition of inorganic phosphorus was studied in this work. The addition of phosphorus can greatly reduce the biosorption time and improve the biosorption capacity. The biosorption dynamic process was divided into three stages: rapid biosorption stage, stable precipitation stage, and further biomineralization stage for biosorption of live cells. Additional inorganic phosphorus interacts with uranyl ions form U-P compounds (UO2HPO4 (aq), UO2PO4− et al.) which could adhere on the cell surface. Those U-P compounds formed scaly precipitation and nano-particles on cell surface which may gradually mineralize into chernikovite H2(UO2)2(PO4)2·8H2O, uramphite (NH4)(UO2)PO4·3H2O, and metaankoleite K(UO2)(PO4)·3H2O.