Removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution by fungal biomass

Abstract

Chromium compounds are released by industrial processes including leather production, mining, petroleum refining, in textile industry and dyeing. They are a significant threat to the environment and public health because of their toxicity. Removal of hexavalent chromium by living biomass of different fungi was effective in the order of Aspergillus terricola>Aspergillus niger>Acremonium strictum>Aureobasidium pullulans>Paecilomyces variotii>Aspergillus foetidus>Cladosporium resinae>Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Non‐living dried fungal biomass showed higher potential for metal removal than living cells. Among all fungi dead biomass of P. chrysosporium, C. resinae and P. variotii had the maximum specific chromium uptake capacity, which was 11.02, 10.69 and 10.35 mg/g of dry biomass respectively at pH 4.0–5.0 in batch sorption. Removal of Cr(VI) by P. chrysosporium from multi‐metallic synthetic solution as well as chrome effluent was significant by bringing down the residual concentration to 0.1 mg/L in the effluent, which falls within the permissible range and its removal was not affected by the presence of other metal ions such as Fe, Zn and Ni. Fourier transform infrared spectral analysis revealed the presence of carboxylate (C=O) and amine (−NH, −NH) functional groups commonly present on the cell surface of all fungi, with possible involvement in chromium binding. The result indicates that non‐living fungal biomass either obtained as a by‐product of fermentation industry or mass produced using inexpensive culture media can be used for bioremediation of Cr(VI) from chrome effluent on large scale.

Bioremediation of Heavy Metals in Liquid Media Through Fungi Isolated from Contaminated Sources

“…The highest uptake of Pb (59.67 mg/g) by A. terreus indicated more binding sites on cell wall of this fungus and its potential as biosorbent to remove Pb from industrial wastewater containing higher concentration of Pb. Similar results with respect to differential Pb uptake by different fungi were reported by earlier workers [15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

Biosorption of Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions by aqueous solutions of novel alkalophillic Streptomyces VITSVK5 spp. biomass

“…The biosorption of metal ions by microbial biomass has several advantages over other conventional methods used to remove the heavy metals. It was reported that metabolism-independent metal binding to the cell walls and external surfaces is the only mechanism present in the case of non-living biomass (Ahluwalia and Goyal, 2003). Metabolism-independent uptake essentially involves ionic, chemical and physical adsorption process.…”

Review of Chromium Residue and Chromium-containing Waste Water Treatment

“…Cr (VI) adsorption curves conformed to level 2 kinetics curve and were spontaneous, endothermic, and highly affinitive to the biomass. Ahluwalia [19] researched 8 living fungal biomass, found that they had different reduction abilities to hexavalent chromium, but for death, dry biomass, it showed a greater reduction activities. Phanerochaete chrysosporium could process chrome to the 0.1 mg/l of allowable scope in outflow, and the processing ability could not be influenced by other metal ions (Fe, Zn, Ni).…”