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Struvite mineral

Struvite is the (NH4)Mg(PO4)(H2O)6 mineral species, grandfathered in the September 2026 IMA list with original-description year 1846. It is distinct from struvite-(K), dittmarite, elemental phosphorus or magnesium, and a recovered wastewater product that may contain multiple phases. The fungal experiment used processed struvite-bearing material from a water-treatment site and reuses Kang 2022 also represented under phosphorus and cerium; it is not an independent study. No constituent-element criticality is inherited.

Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)

Phosphate mobilization during fungal growth on struvite-bearing material

bioleaching Microbial

Associated Organisms: Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015 (NCBITaxon:380704)

Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015 growth was associated with acidification, oxalic acid production and increased soluble inorganic phosphate in struvite-containing medium. Acid-mediated dissolution is supported; oxalate's exclusive causal contribution is not isolated by this experiment.

Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Laboratory natural struvite fragments from a Veolia Water Outsourcing site in Exeter, UK, were pulverized and oven-treated at 105 degrees C for 48 h. XRD identified struvite plus dittmarite in the feed. Flasks contained 1% w/v feed in 200 mL modified Czapek-Dox medium, inoculated with 1 x 10^6 spores/mL and incubated for 14 days at 25 degrees C, 125 rpm, in darkness. Medium pH was adjusted to 5.5 before autoclaving; this is not a measured post-feed starting pH. The medium already contained 1 g/L Na2HPO4, so struvite was not the sole phosphorus source. These are laboratory mobilization results without an isolated phosphorus product yield or demonstrated industrial deployment.
Curated Evidence Points:
Results and Figure 2B report final soluble Pi of 51.37 +/- 0.59 mM in the struvite-containing fungal culture; Figure 2 specifies means and standard errors from at least three replicates. Final pH was 2.46 +/- 0.11 and oxalic acid 26.49 +/- 3.43 mM. These are solution endpoints, not a mineral-specific mass balance or a recovery yield.
Methods name uninoculated flasks, but Figure 2 compares inoculated cultures with versus without struvite. It does not provide an acid-matched abiotic contrast. Background medium phosphate and the mixed mineral feed limit attribution of every measured Pi molecule to struvite. The inspected full text does not specify the Pi assay procedure, although it describes oxalic acid HPLC. The source's complete-solubilization wording is not adopted as a quantified mineral dissolution fraction.

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026. PDF page 208, Struvite row; page 1 column definitions and page 2 distribution terms.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-11)
  2. kang_2022: Kang, Csetenyi, Gao and Gadd (2022). Solubilization of struvite and biorecovery of cerium by Aspergillus niger. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 106:821-833. DOI 10.1007/s00253-021-11721-0; PMC8763747; Methods, Figures 1-2, Table 1 and Discussion.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-021-11721-0 (accessed 2026-10-11)
  3. ncbi_atcc1015: NCBI Taxonomy 380704 - Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015; strain rank in the XML retrieved 11 October 2026.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=380704&mode=Info (accessed 2026-10-11)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-11T09:26:59.519956+00:00 codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Created struvite species identity with mixed-feed fungal phosphate mobilization and control limitations.

Record source: data/records/struvite.yaml