NEHA SINGH* AND RANU GADI
Abstract
The present study was undertaken to evaluate the feasibility of the biomass of Brevundimonas vesicularis to remove Zinc and Cadmium from their aqueous solutions and wastewater samples. The biomass of the bacterial species was first pretreated with 0.1N NaOH solution and then interacted with the solutions of metal ions. Optimum conditions such as pH, biomass dose, contact time, initial metal ion concentration were determined experimentally. It was found that at pH 6.0, biomass dose, 0.1g in 100mL metal ion solution, contact time, 90 min and 100mg/L initial metal ion concentration were most suitable for removal of both the metal ions in single and in binary metal systems. The method developed for Biosorption of metals by the biomass of Brevundimonas vesicularis was applied for the removal of the metals from wastewater samples. HNMR study showed that the metal ions interact with the biomass of the bacterial species through coordination.