Bioremoval of Chromium (III) from Model Tanning Effluent by Novel Microbial Isolate

Tanneries have always been under the scanner of Pollution Control Boards with respect to the amount of effluents and solid wastes that they generate. Wastewater from tanneries usually contains high concentration of chlorides, sodium sulfide, aliphatic sulfonates, sulfates and several other organic components including fatty acids, proteins and soluble carbohydrates. Chromium is present in the wastewater because of its use as a tanning agent in the form of basic chromium sulfate. In this paper, our efforts on isolation of Penicillium sp. from a tannery effluent sample and its use as a sorbent to remove Cr(III) from a model solution are described. Various parameters such as pH, temperature, biomass dose, particle size of the biosorbent and initial metal ion concentration have been optimized. With a model solution of 100ppm Cr(III), about 84% sorption is achieved with 1%(w/v) biomass of <150μm size Penicillium species at 4.0pH and 35 ℃ temperature.