Variation in Extracellular Polymeric Substances from Enterobacter sp. and Their Pb2+ Adsorption Behaviors

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of the cultivation time, temperature, and pH value on the yield and composition of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from Enterobacter sp. FM-1 (FM-1) and to analyze the Pb2+ adsorption behavior of soluble EPS (S-EPS), loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS), and tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS). Maximum EPS production was obtained when the cultivation time, temperature, and pH value were 24 h, 30 degrees C, and 8.0, respectively. The main components of EPS were proteins, polysaccharides, and nucleic acids, but the different EPS types contained different proportions and specific components. The Pb2+ adsorption capacity of LB-EPS was 2.23 and 1.50 times higher than that of S-EPS and TB-EPS, respectively. After Pb2+ adsorption by LB-EPS, the pH value of the reaction system decreased to the lowest of 5.23, which indicated that LB-EPS contained more functional groups that could release H+, which will help to better adsorb Pb2+ through ion exchange. The three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy (3D-EEM) analysis showed that the fluorescence intensity of tryptophan-containing substances decreased by 85.5% after Pb2+ adsorption by LB-EPS, which indicated the complexation of tryptophan-containing substances with Pb2+. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) O spectra indicated that the C=O peak from protein amide I of tryptophan-containing substances in LB-EPS was mainly responsible for the complexation of Pb2+. After the adsorption of Pb2+, the proportion of the C=O peak in LB-EPS increased by 33.89%, indicating that the complexation of LB-EPS with Pb2+ was mainly attributed to the O atom in the C=O terminus of protein amide I.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effects of cultivation conditions on the production of EPS by Enterobacter sp. FM-1 and the Pb2+ adsorption behavior of different types of EPS. The results showed that LB-EPS exhibited the highest Pb2+ adsorption capacity, attributed to its ability to form complexes with Pb2+ for adsorption.