Sorption of Cadmium Ions Using Inactive Biomass of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis Consortium from the Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

Aquatic environment contamination with a high concentration of noxious heavy metals rises as an alarming condition and arises as a severe threat to all living organisms. Consequently, there is an urgent need to focus on advanced approaches for the remediation of aquatic systems. The present study aims to test the capacity of consortium biomass of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis for the sorption of cadmium ions from the polluted aqueous media. The optimum environment for the maximum sorption (84.22 %) of Cd was achieved after 80 minutes of time interval at pH 6, biomass 0.2 g and 20 mg/L of cadmium metal concentration. The adsorption data were well fitted to the Langmuir isotherm for cadmium adsorption (R2= 0.9956) than the Freundlich isotherm (R2= 0.9772), though the rate kinetics data were calculated by pseudo irst and second order models. The highest adsorption capability attained by consortium biomass for Cd ions was found about 55.86 mg/g. Thus, the present work implied that consortium biomass of Pseudomonas fluorescens andBacillus subtilis could be utilized as an efficient biosorbent for eliminating cadmium ions from aqueous solutions.