Peptides as biosorbents – Promising tools for resource recovery

Despite many innovations, meeting both economic and ecological requirements remains challenging for conventional resource recovery technology. The development of highly selective peptides puts a new competitor on the market. We present an approach to identify peptides for resource recovery using Phage Surface Display. Here, we describe the development of peptides for binding of rare earth element terbium-containing solids and for removal and enrichment of the heavy metal ions of cobalt and nickel out of waste waters and leaching solutions. We identified phage displaying specific peptides with ∼100× enhanced affinity towards terbium-containing solids or ∼20× enhanced affinity towards nickel (∼3× cobalt).