Biomining of lunar regolith simulant EAC-1 A with the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum
Abstract Background On a future lunar habitat, acquiring needed resources in situ will inevitably come from the Lunar regolith. Biomining, i.e. the use of microorganisms to extract metals from the regolith, is sustainable and energy-efficient, making it highly promising for space exploration applica...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Fungal Biology and Biotechnology |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40694-025-00201-z |
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| author | João Figueira Stella Koch Daniel W. Müller Sebastian Slawik Aidan Cowley Ralf Moeller Marta Cortesão |
| author_facet | João Figueira Stella Koch Daniel W. Müller Sebastian Slawik Aidan Cowley Ralf Moeller Marta Cortesão |
| author_sort | João Figueira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background On a future lunar habitat, acquiring needed resources in situ will inevitably come from the Lunar regolith. Biomining, i.e. the use of microorganisms to extract metals from the regolith, is sustainable and energy-efficient, making it highly promising for space exploration applications. Given the extensive use of filamentous fungi in industrial biotechnology, we investigated the ability of the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum to extract metals from the European Astronaut Centre lunar regolith simulant 1 (EAC-1 A), which will be used as the analogue soil at the European Lunar Exploration Laboratory (LUNA) facility at the European Space Agency (ESA) and German Aerospace Centre (DLR) site. Results Biocompatibility tests demonstrated P. simplicissimum tolerance to high concentrations of EAC-1 A lunar regolith simulant (up to 60%), both on Earth gravity and Lunar simulated gravity via clinorotation. We reveal that a fungal bioleaching setup using low nutrient medium (20% PDB) enables P. simplicissimum to extract metals from EAC-1 A regolith over the course of 2 weeks at room temperature. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis of the leachate revealed the extraction of magnesium (up to 159 mg/L), calcium (151 mg/L), iron (68 mg/L), aluminium (32 mg/L), manganese (3 mg/L) as well as traces of titanium (0.02 mg/L). The recovered metal oxide powder from the leachate, obtained via centrifugation (14,500 g, 4,000 rpm), followed by filtration (0.22 μm) and drying at 60 °C overnight, achieved a promising average of 10 ± 3 g/L. Further analysis via SEM/EDS and XRD confirmed the presence of aluminium [as boehmite (AlO(OH))], magnesium, and iron [possibly as haematite (Fe2O3)] and magnetite [possibly as (Fe3O4)]. Conclusion Our study demonstrates successful fungal biomining of lunar regolith simulant EAC-1 A and emphasizes the utilization of fungal-based approaches as promising ISRU technologies in future space exploration missions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c11ddf9efde149d0ac387a993a05a2dc |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2054-3085 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fungal Biology and Biotechnology |
| spelling | doaj-art-c11ddf9efde149d0ac387a993a05a2dc2025-08-20T03:08:21ZengBMCFungal Biology and Biotechnology2054-30852025-05-0112111610.1186/s40694-025-00201-zBiomining of lunar regolith simulant EAC-1 A with the fungus Penicillium simplicissimumJoão Figueira0Stella Koch1Daniel W. Müller2Sebastian Slawik3Aidan Cowley4Ralf Moeller5Marta Cortesão6Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology Department, Aerospace Microbiology Research Group, German Aerospace Center (DLR)Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology Department, Aerospace Microbiology Research Group, German Aerospace Center (DLR)Chair of Functional Materials, Department of Material Science, Saarland UniversityChair of Functional Materials, Department of Material Science, Saarland UniversitySpaceship EAC, European Space Agency (ESA)Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology Department, Aerospace Microbiology Research Group, German Aerospace Center (DLR)Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology Department, Aerospace Microbiology Research Group, German Aerospace Center (DLR)Abstract Background On a future lunar habitat, acquiring needed resources in situ will inevitably come from the Lunar regolith. Biomining, i.e. the use of microorganisms to extract metals from the regolith, is sustainable and energy-efficient, making it highly promising for space exploration applications. Given the extensive use of filamentous fungi in industrial biotechnology, we investigated the ability of the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum to extract metals from the European Astronaut Centre lunar regolith simulant 1 (EAC-1 A), which will be used as the analogue soil at the European Lunar Exploration Laboratory (LUNA) facility at the European Space Agency (ESA) and German Aerospace Centre (DLR) site. Results Biocompatibility tests demonstrated P. simplicissimum tolerance to high concentrations of EAC-1 A lunar regolith simulant (up to 60%), both on Earth gravity and Lunar simulated gravity via clinorotation. We reveal that a fungal bioleaching setup using low nutrient medium (20% PDB) enables P. simplicissimum to extract metals from EAC-1 A regolith over the course of 2 weeks at room temperature. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis of the leachate revealed the extraction of magnesium (up to 159 mg/L), calcium (151 mg/L), iron (68 mg/L), aluminium (32 mg/L), manganese (3 mg/L) as well as traces of titanium (0.02 mg/L). The recovered metal oxide powder from the leachate, obtained via centrifugation (14,500 g, 4,000 rpm), followed by filtration (0.22 μm) and drying at 60 °C overnight, achieved a promising average of 10 ± 3 g/L. Further analysis via SEM/EDS and XRD confirmed the presence of aluminium [as boehmite (AlO(OH))], magnesium, and iron [possibly as haematite (Fe2O3)] and magnetite [possibly as (Fe3O4)]. Conclusion Our study demonstrates successful fungal biomining of lunar regolith simulant EAC-1 A and emphasizes the utilization of fungal-based approaches as promising ISRU technologies in future space exploration missions.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40694-025-00201-zISRU1biomining2moon3Fungal biotechnology4penicillium5Lunar regolith6 |
| spellingShingle | João Figueira Stella Koch Daniel W. Müller Sebastian Slawik Aidan Cowley Ralf Moeller Marta Cortesão Biomining of lunar regolith simulant EAC-1 A with the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum Fungal Biology and Biotechnology ISRU1 biomining2 moon3 Fungal biotechnology4 penicillium5 Lunar regolith6 |
| title | Biomining of lunar regolith simulant EAC-1 A with the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum |
| title_full | Biomining of lunar regolith simulant EAC-1 A with the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum |
| title_fullStr | Biomining of lunar regolith simulant EAC-1 A with the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum |
| title_full_unstemmed | Biomining of lunar regolith simulant EAC-1 A with the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum |
| title_short | Biomining of lunar regolith simulant EAC-1 A with the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum |
| title_sort | biomining of lunar regolith simulant eac 1 a with the fungus penicillium simplicissimum |
| topic | ISRU1 biomining2 moon3 Fungal biotechnology4 penicillium5 Lunar regolith6 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40694-025-00201-z |
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