Anthropogenic activities related to the mining and industrial use of U(VI) have led to significant contamination of the environment. As a result, there is a need to understand better the factors that govern the fate and transport of contaminants. The adsorption of U(VI) to minerals is a potential pathway for natural remediation however, this process is influenced by various environmental factors including the presence of naturally occurring organic molecules.<br/>The current work examines the complexation of U(VI) with desferrioxamine B (DFOB - a hydroxamate type siderophore), and the interactions of this complex with common manganese minerals (pyrolusite and manganite). Adsorption experiments with U(VI)-DFOB complex were performed with each mineral at pH 6 and 8. Control adsorption experiments were also performed with U(VI) and DFOB. DFOB promotes the sorption of U(VI) on pyrolusite under circumneutral conditions and DFOB undergoes degradation allowing us to detect organic molecules-fragments in the aqueous phase (e.g. acetate and succinate). On the other hand, when manganite is used as a substrate, U(VI) sorption is not affected by the presence of DFOB and no degradation of DFOB was observed. These results indicate that uranium sorption can be influenced by the presence of siderophores, which can assist in natural attenuation, decreasing uranium mobility in the environment. Furthermore, the results suggest that multiple adsorption mechanisms of the U(VI)-DFOB complex could be occurring involving active sites on the mineral surface interacting with both DFOB and U(VI).

Environmental fate of actinide-siderophore complexes: Desferrioxamine B promoted sorption of U(VI) on manganese minerals

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.