02Characterization of a__ bioflocculant produced by the marine myxobacterium Nannocystis sp.__ NU-2..pdf

Abstract The marine myxobacterium strain NU-2, which can grow on high concentrations (up to 7%) of NaCl, was isolated from a salt soil sample collected from the coast of the Huanghai Sea, China. Morphological prop- erties and 16S rDNA sequence analysis indicated that the isolate is a novel species related to the genus Nannocystis. Nannocystis sp. NU-2 produced a new kind of floccula- ting substance in a starch medium with a yield of 14.8 g l–1. The NU-2 flocculant was composed of 40.3% proteins and 56.5% polysaccharides, of which glucose, mannose and glucuronic acid were the principal constitu- ents in the relative proportions of 5:4:1. The flocculation activity of the NU-2 flocculant depends strongly on cations such as Fe3+ and Al3+. When a 30 mg l–1 FeCl 3 solution is present in kaolin clay suspension, 30 mg l–1of the flocculant produced a high flocculating activity value of 90%, which remained unchanged over an extensive pH range (pH 2.0–13.0). The flocculant was tested for its ability to bleach dyeing liquors, and the bleaching activities were 98.2% for acid red in 100 mg l–1of the flocculant and 99.0% for direct emerald blue in 50 mg l–1of the flocculant under test conditions. Use of the flocculant to bleach basic pink and cation emerald blue liquors was not effective. Introduction The interest in biotechnological methods for production of bioflocculant lies in the possibility of using different microorganisms to synthesize extracellular matter that has found application in treating various industrial and domestic sewages (Nakata and Kurane 1999; Toeda and Kurane 1991). Bioflocculants are important in environ- mental protection because of their biodegradability and safety for ecosystems (Crescenzi 1995). Extracellular substances, which are composed of polysaccharides and proteins, are thought to mediate cell-cell interactions or the adherence of cells to surfaces (Roberts 1996). Their functions in flocculation and adhesion are similar to some amphoteric polymer