Extracellular Polymeric Substances from Bacillus subtilis Associated with Minerals Modify the Extent and Rate of Heavy Metal Sorption

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are an important source of organic matter in soil. Once released by microorganisms, a portion may be sorbed to mineral surfaces, thereby altering the mineral̀s ability to immobilize heavy metals. EPS from Bacillus subtilis were reacted with Ca-saturated bentonite and ferrihydrite in 0.01 M KCl at pH 5.0 to follow the preferential uptake of EPS-C, -N, and -P. The sorption kinetics of Pb2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+ to the resulting EPS-mineral composites was studied in single and binary metal batch experiments ([metal]total = 50 μM, pH 5.0). Bentonite sorbed much more EPS-C (18.5 mg g–1) than ferrihydrite (7.9 mg g–1). During sorption, EPS were chemically and size fractionated with bentonite favoring the uptake of low-molecular weight components and EPS-N, and ferrihydrite selectively retaining high-molecular weight and P-rich components. Surface area and pore size measurements by N2 gas adsorption at 77 K indicated that EPS altered the structure of mineral-EPS associations by inducing partial disaggregation of bentonite and aggregation of ferrihydrite. Whereas mineral-bound EPS increased the extent and rate of Pb2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+ sorption for bentonite, either no effect or a decrease in metal uptake was observed for ferrihydrite. The extent of sorption always followed the order Pb2+ > Cu2+ > Zn2+, which also prevailed in binary Pb2+/Cu2+ systems. In consequence, sorption of EPS to different minerals may have contrasting consequences for the immobilization of heavy metals in natural environments by inducing mineral-specific alterations of the pore size distribution and, thus, of available sorption sites.