Interações do lantânio e cério com microalgas dos gêneros Monoraphidium e Scenedesmus

Abstract

Rare-earth elements, mostly represented by the lanthanides, usually occur as trace constituents in minerals of some common rocks (monazite, apatite) and also in some ores. Such elements were widely used for decades as fertilizers in China. Regarding technological innovations, the demand for these metals is constantly growing due to their applications in several fields. Consequently, high amounts of these elements are accumulated in the aquatic environment reaching phytoplanctonic species. This way, microalgae, that are the most ecologically relevant species in the food chain, are being frequently used in environmental studies to evaluate relative toxicity from various chemical discharges, also due to their wide use in the detection of the first environmental impacts in ecosystems. Beyond this fact, they constitute a type of biomass with a good metals biosorption capacity due to the presence of ligands in their biological structures, that promote the uptake of metals when present in solution. Thus, the interaction of the Green microalgae Monoraphidium and Scenedesmus with La3+ and Ce3+ were investigated in the present work. To reach this goal, the toxic effect and bioaccumulation of La3+ by both microalgae were studied. Additionally, batch biosorption studies of La3+ and Ce3+ were done, in monoelement and combined solutions were performed. In the study of toxicity and bioaccumulation, the culture medium used was ASM-1 in the presence and absence of La3+ (10 mg.L-1 to 100 mg.L-1), where the toxic effect of the metal was monitored through micro and macroscopic observation of the cultures and also through quantification of the biomass by direct dry mass quantification. In the bioaccumulation tests the same procedure was adopted. The results obtained showed that the toxic effect of the metal was present in 50 and 100 mg.L-1 solutions and that the bioconcentration of La3+ by both species, mainly for La3+ concentrations from 10 to 25 mg.L-1, indicating that there was a direct relation between bioconcentration and La3+ . Cells from the genus Monoraphidium concentrated a higher amount than Scenedesmus. Biosorption results from monoelement solutions showed the high ability of both microalgae to accumulate La3+ (20,7 mmol.g-1 for Monoraphidium sp. and 17,8 mmol.g-1 for Scenedesmus sp.); and, Ce3+ (25,7 mmol.g-1 for Monoraphidium sp. and 11,5 mmol.g-1 for Scenedesmus sp.). The results obtained revealed that experimental data were fitted to Freundlich adsorption model, in most cases. In binary solutions, a smaller uptake was observed, considering individual uptake capacities, thus indicating a competition between the elements for the same ligand sites, and also it was observed a higher affinity for Ce3+