Employing Fabricated Loofah Sponge Supported Indiginous Chromium Sequestering Bacteria from Tannery Effluent-A Strategy for Heavy Metals Removal and Recovery
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Abstract
Anthropogenically introduced heavy metal from leather and tanning industrial effluents pose a major threat to all aquatic bodies, flora, fauna, and mainly human beings as they enter the food chain due to high bioaccumulation normality. The study deals with heavy metal mitigation by modified loofah sponge supported indigenous microorganisms. The tannery effluent and sludge were collected from Chrompet and Madhavaram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The chromium tolerant bacteria were screened on a selective-agar screening test, and the minimum inhibitory concentration was noted. Antibiotic susceptibility test results showed that indigenous micro-organisms were susceptible to 23 antibiotics, so it was considered for further analysis. The 16s rRNA sequencing with Basic Local Alignment Search Tool results showed Klebsiella pneumoniae KPN0422 [accession number PQ066210]. The Klebsiella pneumoniae KPN0422 strain showed up to 82.14 and 85.35% of chromium adsorption at 150 and 200 ppm, respectively. The lab scale approach showed modified loofah sponges immobilized Klebsiella pneumoniae KPN0422 adsorbed 88.44% chromium, biosorption increased further up to 7.30% than free cells. So, in the future, the modified loofah sponge supported indigenous organisms, a green approach, can be used for chromium detoxification in tanneries and also in other industrial effluents and sites.