UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE NUEVO LEÓN

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS QUÍMICAS

Chemical Engineering

Scientific Methodology
Proposal

Group: 2
Team: 6

Professor: Dr. Sanal Kozhiparambil Chandran

Students: ID:
Valeria Lissethe Mata Mata 1671985
Kimberly Gabriela Treviño Salas 1588239
Victor Allán Lozano Rodriguez 1661140
Victor Perez Ruiz 1659434
David Jared Gonzalez Vasquez 1672382

San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, November 20, 2018

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Objective
Check that the use of biomass to remove heavy metals from contaminated water is feasible and
possible.
1. Looking for the best conditions of the fungal to obtain the better adsorption
possible.
2. Implementation in industrial scale.
Background
According to different sources, it is reported that the first quantitative report was by L. Henry
where he studied the consumption of copper in fungal spores, T. tritici in 1902. Later they went
presenting similar works to this one but using different fungi as well as different heavy metals. In
1973, the first patent for a wastewater cleaning device based on biosorption was created by Ames
Crosta Mills & Company Ltd. (Park D., Yun Y., & Park J. 2010)
Bioremediation is considered alternative processing methods for removing the heavy metals ions
from polluted area. Is naturally living organisms to reduce the environmental pollutants into less
toxic forms. It is followed by bacteria and fungi or plants to degrade hazardous ingredients to
human health and the environment. The microorganisms may be isolated from an indigenous
contaminated area and apply to the contaminated site. Contaminant materials are transformed by
living organisms through reactions that take place as a part of their metabolic processes. The use
of microbial metabolism process has offered a viable, safer, more efficient and less expensive for
cleaning of pollutions. The principles of the bioremediation can be divided into several techniques
that including composting, bioreactor, land farming and biostimulation. (Shafiquzzaman
Siddiquee,2015)

¿Would it be feasible to remove heavy metals from water contaminated with fungi?
Many yeasts, fungi, algae, bacteria and some aquatic plants have the capacity to concentrate
metals from aqueous diluted solutions, and to accumulate them inside the cell structure. The
most successful biotechnological processes utilize biosorption and bioprecipitation, but other
processes such as binding by specific macromolecules may have future potential. Technologies
using these processes are currently used to control pollution from diverse sources.
The term biosorption is used to encompass uptake by whole biomass (living or dead) via
physico-chemical mechanisms such as adsorption or ion exchange. Where living biomass is
used, metabolic uptake mechanisms may also contribute to the process. Mention is made about
systems that employ a mixture of microorganisms as well as higher plants. The fungal hyphae
are adapted to efficiently absorb the nutrients of the environment, because they have a great
surface-volume ratio. These adaptations are also complemented by the release of hydrolytic
enzymes that break down large organic molecules such as polysaccharides, proteins and lipids
into smaller molecules. These molecules are then absorbed as nutrients in the cells of the fungus.
(José Pontón, 2008)
 Fig. 1 Fungi parts (José Pontón, 2008)

Fig. 2 Fungi parts (Harms H, 2011)

Justification
Due to the high human activity has seen the increase of pollutants in the environment, this not only
affects the ecosystem but also the human health. Since we are permanently exposed to heavy and
toxic metals, the risk of suffering disorders due to the concentration of these elements in the body
is quite high. (Sha Wellness, 2016). Pollution has become one of the biggest problems in our
society because of our lack of consciousness for our world.
Chemical factories are throwing their wastewaters full of heavy metals (chemical element that has
a relatively high density and is toxic or poisonous at low concentrations) such as Hg, Cr, Pb, Zn,
Cu, Ni, Pt, Ag and Au, causing a big environmental problem to the living organisms. The
concentration of this heavy metals in waste waters and be harmful and even very toxic to all kinds
of living things. (Wang & Chen, 2006)
Removal of toxic metals from industrial effluents to safe levels is an expensive process.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain is recognized by high fermentation rates, wide use in food and
beverage production, being by-product or industrial fermentation waste in large quantities that can
be used in biosorption processes.(Wang and Chen, 2006).The study has a future potential in the
industrial application, looking for a way to immobilize the biomaterial. Investigate which fungi
have greater affinity with certain metals, for greater removal and efficiency. (Antonio Jesús Muñoz
Cobo, 2014) Fungal biomass is a relatively inexpensive biosorbent that can be produced using
simple fermentation techniques and inexpensive growth media. (Yang et al., 2012). Food and
industrial fermentation processes can provide a cheap and constant supply of fungal biomass. (Y.
Sağ ,2001)

Fig. 3 Project justification (Y. Sağ ,2001), (Wang and Chen, 2006) and Sha Wellness, 2016)

Hypothesis
By using fungi biosorption, a significant amount of heavy metals from industrial wastewaters will
be effectively removed to safe levels.
Methodology
Fungi cultivation

1. Choose three Fungi to be studied

2. In an Erlenmeyer flask with an inert aqueous solution with a previously determined pH,
add a certain percentage of culture of the chosen fungi.
3. With the help of a incubator with shaker, test each type of fungi with different pH and
temperatures. (Investigation of each fungus can help determine factors to try)
4. Once the best growth factors are established, adapt them to compile with allowable
factors in an industry.
5. Register results and compare which is the best.

Analyze of biosorption

1. Prepare solutions of 10 to 100 ppm with different common metals in industrial

wastewater (Hg, Cu, Sb, Cd, Cr, Ni) in Erlenmeyer flasks.
2. Add pre-selected fungi percentage to each of the flasks.
3. Submit them again to the incubation process with pH and temperatures adaptable to the
industry. (previously obtained)
4. After the cultivation time (1-2hrs), take samples in test tubes to make readings in the
spectrophotometer.
5. With the data analysis to determine if the concentration of metals in the treated
wastewater decreased or remained the same.
6. Record data and print results.

Pelletizing

1. With the data collected from previous experiments, choose the fungus indicated for
the wastewater of the company to be tested.
2. For the pelletizing, a plastic container will be used, microfiber continents with
selected algae inlays.
3. In a container of 50-100 liters of wastewater place the fungi pelletized of a size of
20% of the tank.
4. Allow the sample stand for 20-40 min.
5. Take samples of treated water to measure the concentration of heavy metals with the
spectrophotometer.
6. Record data.
Gantt Diagram
After the methodology, developed a plan in which we can see all the different activities and
experiments we have to do to complete our project.
We took into consideration the time, or in this case, the days it would take us to complete all the
activities. We did not count Saturdays and Sundays, as they are supposed to be our days of from
the week. We are also considering holidays; those days would be days that we do not work.
In the Gantt diagram below, we can find the number of weeks or days it will take the team
complete different tasks and activities, we also proposed the starting and ending day for each
activity, and finally, who is the responsible of that certain activity.
When we start the project, we will update our current progress constantly for each day we
complete of the activity.

Figure 3. Gantt diagram for the biosorption of heavy metals by fungi project.
Requested resource
Table 1. Global quotation

.
Table 2. Quote assuming agreement with the university

We can see an approximate saving of 94% only if we remove the measuring devices without
counting the fact that they can lend us the laboratory material, so we can save a little more than
95% of the initial cost save a little more than 95% of the initial cost.

Goals
The main goal of the project is to prove that biosorption of heavy metals by fungi is a viable option
to use as a wastewater treatment for an industry scale.

The next goal of the project is to establish and convince the community that biosorption is an
important and reliable way to remove the heavy metals from industrial wastewater.
References
[1] José Pontón, La pared celular de los hongos y el mecanismo de acción de la anidulafungina,
2008.
[2] Shafiquzzaman Siddiquee, Kobun Rovina, Heavy Metal Contaminants Removal from
Wastewater Using the Potential Filamentous Fungi Biomass, Biotechnology Research Institute,
2015.
[3] Antonio Jesús Muñoz Cobo, Biosorción de metales pesados para el tratamiento de aguas
residuales industriales, 2014.
[4] Park D., Yun Y., & Park J. (2010). The Past, Present, and Future Trends of Biosorption.
Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering, 15: 86-102.
[5] Wang, J., Chen, C. (2006). Biosorption of heavy metals by Saccharomyces cerevisiae: A
review. Biotechnology Advances, 24(5), 427–451.6
[6] Yang, Y., Li, Z., Wang, G., Zhao, X., Crowley, D., & Zhao, Y. (2012).
Sağ, Y. (2001). Biosorption of heavy metal by fungal biomass and modeling of fungal
biosorption: a review. Separation and Purification Methods, 30(1), 1–48.
[7] Siddiquee, S., Rovina, K., & Azad, S. A. (2015). Heavy Metal Contaminants Removal from
Wastewater Using the Potential Filamentous Fungi Biomass: A Review. Journal of Microbial &
Biochemical Technology, 07(06). doi:10.4172/1948-5948.1000243
[8] Harms H, Schlosser D, Wick LY (2011) Untapped potential: exploiting fungi in
bioremediation of hazardous chemicals. Nat Rev Microbiol 9: 177-192.
[9] Gadd GM (1993) Interactions of fungi with toxic metals. New Phytol 124: 25-60.
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