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Electro-fermentation and its Engineering for Heavy Metal Removal From Mining Wastewater: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Perspectives
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DOI：10.1007/s40726-026-00412-x.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
This review explores the emerging role of electro-fermentation (EF) and its engineering as an advanced bioelectrochemical process for heavy metals removal and recovery from mining wastewater, including acid mine drainage (AMD), tailings effluents, and metal-rich industrial discharges. It specifically communicates recent advancements in electro-fermentation mechanisms, reactor configurations, microbial electron transfer pathways, and integration methods for sustainable mining wastewater remediation. Recent studies indicate that EF engineering improves heavy metal removal via electro-assisted microbial reduction, cathodic metal deposition, sulfide-mediated precipitation, biosorption, and bioaccumulation. These processes are facilitated by extracellular electron transfer (EET), which governs electron exchange between microorganisms and electrodes or other electron acceptors. EET can occur through both direct electron transfer (DET) and indirect/mediated electron transfer (IET/MET) pathways, or may also involve direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) in microbial consortia. The removal efficiency can be up to 80–99% for Cu, Zn, Ni, Cd, Cr, Pb, and Sb (in elemental or mineral form). Conductive materials (e.g., biochar, graphite, graphene) improve electron transfer efficiency, microbial resilience, and process stability under metal stress. Nonetheless, performance is negatively impacted by electrode biofouling, metal toxicity to microbial communities, insufficient organic carbon in mining effluent, energy optimization challenges, and drawbacks in scaling up. EF and its engineering are a prospective, low-chemical, and circular-economy-oriented technology for mining wastewater treatment. Advancements in electrode material innovation, microbial community engineering, process intensification, real-time electrochemical control, and pilot-scale validation will be attractive and crucial for accelerating commercialization and deployment in mining operations.
Keywords:
Bioaccumulation
Electron transfer
Heavy metal removal
Bioelectrochemical systems
Resource recovery
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8.1
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1.7K
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2.8K
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