Bacterial Remediation of Chromium From Industrial Sludge

Abstract

Chromium-like heavy toxic metals seriously influence the metabolism of living organisms and cause permanent threatening of health. Microorganisms can help to detoxify those hazardous heavy metals in the environment by the process of bioremediation. Two bacterial genera were isolated from industrial sludge designated P1 and P2. From the 16srRNA study, it is revealed that P1 is Bacillus cereus and P2 is Enterobacter sp. They are deposited in NCMR and NCBI and received the accession no. MCC 3868 for P1 and MCC 3788 for P2. P1 is gram positive, motile, and P2 is gram negative, motile. Eighteen antibiotics have been taken for antibiotic assay; P1 is resistant to 12; P2 is resistant to 8 antibiotics. For growth pattern analysis in chromium, three parameters have been selected, and they are temperature, pH, and biomass. In LD50 and above parameters, total chromium uptake by those bacteria in stressed conditions have been recorded. The two bacteria are not antagonistic to each other so they are used to bioremediate chromium from their contaminated sites and also treated as consortium.