Abstract
BackgroundThe problem of heavy metal contamination is a global issue, and the challenge is to develop methods to remove heavy metals from soil and water. Recently, biosurfactants are one of the compounds that provide an attractive eco-friendly alternative to the physicochemical process in alleviating the heavy metals.ResultsSixty bacterial isolates were isolated from Al-Rahawy drain sediments and screened for biosurfactant production. Only 10 isolates were recoded as biosurfactant producers by the oil spreading and emulsifying assays in addition to the ability of biosurfactant on heavy metal removal in wastewater. The most potent isolate was identified using morphological, cultural, biochemical characteristics, antibiotics susceptibility, and 16 s rRNA technique as Citrobacter freundii MG812314.1.ConclusionsThe produced biosurfactant was found to be more effective in removing heavy metals from wastewater, viz 80, 67, 66, 55, 45, 44, and 41% of aluminum, lead, zinc, cadmium, iron, copper, and manganese, respectively, under two inoculum potentials and two contact time. The interaction of heavy metals with biosurfactant was monitored using scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectra (EDX), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses.
Highlights
Biosphere pollution due to heavy metals is a confused problem that causes negative effects on various environments
This study aimed to isolate, screen, and identify of the biosurfactant-producing bacteria from different heavy metals which contaminated the water in Egypt, optimize the biosurfactant production from the most potent isolate, and examine the ability of the produced biosurfactant to remove heavy metals from wastewater
Screening of the isolated bacteria for biosurfactant production Oil spreading assay The results in Table 1 showed that among all 60 tested bacterial isolates, only 10 isolates (BS3, BS9, BS12, BS17, BS33, BS34, BS37, BS42, BS43, BS55) were able to displace oil and form a clear zone
Summary
Biosphere pollution due to heavy metals is a confused problem that causes negative effects on various environments. The levels of heavy metals in all environments (air, water, and soil) are increasing to toxic levels with contributions from a wide variety of agricultural, industrial, and domestic sources.Metal-contaminated environments pose a risk on health and ecosystems. Heavy metals that mainly derived from multiple anthropogenic sources are considered one of the important pollutants in the Nile River (Ezzat et al 2012). These metals cause serious ecological problems because they are non-degradable and can bioaccumulate through the food chain (Goher et al 2014). Biosurfactants are one of the compounds that provide an attractive eco-friendly alternative to the physicochemical process in alleviating the heavy metals
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