A Comparative Study on Removal Efficiency of Cr(VI) in Aqueous Solution by Fusarium sp. and Myrothecium sp.

Abstract

Environmental pollution with chromium is due to residues of several industrial processes. Bioremediation is an alternative actually considered to remove Cr (VI) from the environment, using adapted organisms that grow in contaminated places. Have been conducted studies with fungi mechanisms of interaction with chromium, most of which have focused on processes biosorption, characterized it by passive binding of metal components of the cell surface, and bioaccumulation, wherein the metal entry to cells occurs with energy expenditure. The paper presents the results of studies carried out on sorption of chromium (VI) ions from aqueous solutions by Fusarium sp. and Myrothecium sp. Both biomasses have the ability to take up hexavalent chromium during the stationary phase of growth and as well inactive conditions. Fusarium sp. showed 26% of biosorption with active biomass and 64% in inactive biomass; meanwhile, Myrothecium sp. obtained 97 and 82%, respectively. Both fungi showed adjust to pseudo-second-order model in active (Fusarium sp. R 2 = 0.99; Myrothecium sp. R 2 = 0.96) and inactive biomass assay (Fusarium sp. R 2 = 0.99; Myrothecium sp. R 2 = 0.99). The data of the active biomass test also confirmed to the intraparticle diffusion model (Fusarium sp. R 2 = 0.98; Myrothecium sp. R 2 = 0.93). The results obtained through this investigation indicate the possibility of treating waste effluents containing hexavalent chromium using Fusarium sp. and Myrothecium sp.