Yersiniabactin metal binding characterization and removal of nickel from industrial wastewater.

Yersiniabactin (Ybt) is a metal-binding natural product that has been re-purposed for water treatment. The early focus of this study was the characterization of metal binding breadth attributed to Ybt. Using LC-MS analysis of water samples exposed to aqueous and surface-localized Ybt, quantitative assessment of binding was completed with metals that included Pd2+ , Mg2+ , and Zn2+ . In total, Ybt showed affinity for 10 metals. Next, Ybt-modified XAD-16N resin (Ybt-XAD) was utilized to quantify the affinity for metal removal, showing a rank order of Fe3+  > Ga3+  > Ni2+  > Cu2+  > Cr2+ ≈Zn2+  > Co2+  > Pd2+  > Mg2+  > Al3+ , and in the applied treatment of wastewater from a local precious metal plating company, showing selective removal of nickel from the aqueous effluent. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:1548-1554, 2017.