Studies of Chromium Removal from Tannery Effluents by Dead Streptomyces Rimosus

Abstract

Dead streptomyces rimosus was found to be an effective biosorbent for the removal of chromium from industrial tanning effluents. A sorption level of 65 mg/g was observed at pH 4.8 while the precipitation effect augmented this value at a higher pH range. Chromium desorption increased with decreasing desorption agents pH (including HCl and H2SO4) to a maximum value of 95% at approximately zero pH. The biosorption data of trivalent chromium by streptomyces rimosus has been used for kinetic studies based on fractional power, Elovich, pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order rate expressions. The time-dependent Cr (III) biosorption data were well-described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The intraparticle diffusion is not the rate-limiting step for the whole reaction. It was found that the biosorption equilibrium data fit well with the Langmuir model.