Bioremoval Performances of Hexavalent Chromium by Suspended and Immobilised Microbial Biomass onto Pozzolana: Studying the Self-purification Mechanism

Abstract

Hexavalent chromium is one of the hazardous metals that can be found in industrial effluents such as wood treatment units, mining, leather tanning, pigment, steel and electroplating industry. The present work aimed to evaluate the self-purification capacity of the microbial flora taken from the domestic wastewater effluent of Chlef City, with the perspective of designing a microbial bed in the secondary sewage treatment to prevent an industrial Cr(VI) contamination. Under various operating conditions, the bioremoval performance of Cr(VI) was evaluated by using suspended biomass and immobilised biomass (fixed onto pozzolana grains).The results showed that the immobilised biomass was more efficient and more resistant to Cr(VI) toxicity than the suspended biomass. Indeed, the Cr(VI) was totally eliminated within 96 h for an initial concentration of 50 mg l −1 by the immobilised biomass, while this rate was obtained after 120 h for the suspended biomass. The kinetic data fit well to the pseudo-first order kinetic model. The intraparticle diffusion kinetic model suggested that the diffusion process of Cr(VI) was greatly influenced by the initial concentration. The microbial flora present in domestic wastewater is a promising biosorbent that is able to treat effluent containing Cr(VI).