IIT-BHU SCIENTISTS ISOLATE STRAIN THAT SEPARATES METAL FROM WASTE WATER

VARANASI: Researchers at School of Biochemical Engineering, IIT-BHU have isolated a new bacterial strain from a contaminated site that can remove toxic hexavalent chromium from waste water in most effective and eco-friendly manner.

Hexavalent chromium is a heavy metal ion that is used in different industries and is responsible for health problems in humans like cancers, kidney and liver malfunctioning and infertility, said researchers Dr Vishal Mishra and his Ph.D student Veer Singh.

Dr Mishra said this new strain -- Microbacterium paraoxydans strain VSVM IIT(BHU) -- was able to tolerate large concentrations of hexavalent chromium.

“It is very effective for removal of hexavalent chromium from wastewater compared to other conventional methods. This bacterial strain showed fast growth rate in the Hexavalent chromium-- Cr (VI)-- containing aqueous medium and gets easily separated from the aqueous medium after the treatment process,” he said.

He said this bacterial strain doesn’t require an extra separation process after removal.

Bacterial mediated wastewater treatment process is very inexpensive and non-toxic because there was no involvement of expensive equipment and chemicals, he said.

The researchers have tested hexavalent chromium removal capacity of this bacterial strain in industrial and synthetic waste water and have found satisfactory results.

They also tested the mechanism in bacterial cells.