Bioremediation potential of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter cloacae isolated from a copper-contaminated area

Abstract

Background The Sossego mine, located in Canaa dos Carajas, Para, Brazil, has a pond of wastes with low copper concentrations economically unfeasable for extraction. In this place, we can improve environmental conditions and, at the same time, recover part of the ore diluted in these wastes, through evaluation and use of the local biodiversity, in bioremediation processes, once the use of this technology, will allow the decontamination as well the recovery of these metals with high value. Once there are some restrictions on the microorganisms introduction in the environment, it is important to establish the bioremediation potential of native species from a particular location. Therefore, it is necessary to study the biodegradation processes or biotransformation of compounds in the microbial biodiversity already adapted that are responsible for these processes in the environment, first in a bench scale[1]. In this work, among the 22 strains isolated from environmental samples from a copper mine, two of them presented great potential for bioremediation. Strains were identified and both were subjected to comparative study of their bioremediation potential and showed good results in concentrations up to 320ppm of copper.