Biosorption of heavy metals from industrial waste water by Geobacillus thermodenitrificans

The metal binding capacity of the thermophilic bacteria Geobacillus thermodenitrificans isolated from Damodar river, India was assessed using synthetic metal solutions and industrial wastewater. Biosorption preference of dead biomass of G. thermodenitrificans for the synthetic metal solutions was in the following order Fe+3 > Cr+3 > Co+2 > Cu+2 > Zn+2 > Cd+2 > Ag+ > Pb+2. It reduced the concentration of Fe+3 (91.31%), Cr+3 (80.80%), Co+2 (79.71%), Cu+2 (57.14%), Zn+2 (55.14%), Cd+2 (49.02%), Ag+ (43.25%) and Pb+2 (36.86%) at different optimum pH within 720 min. When this strain was applied in the industrial waste water biosorption preference was in the following order Fe+3 > Cr+3 > Cd+2 > Pb+2 > Cu+2 > Co+2 > Zn+2 > Ag+ and concentrations reduced up to 43.94% for Fe+3, 39.2% for Cr+3, 35.88% for Cd+2, 18.22% for Pb+2, 13.03% for Cu+2, 11.43% for Co+2, 9.02% for Zn+2 and 7.65% for Ag+ within 120 min. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.