Evaluating The Performance of Indigenous Microorganism for Bioremediation of Lead Contaminated Soil

Abstract

This work is on remediation of lead concentration (130.36 mg/kg) in soils from farm settlement at Agbabu community in Ondo State of Nigeria to below maximum allowable 100 mg/kg specified for safe agriculture by standards to ensure that farm products from this farm settlement close to area of mining are safe for human beings. Three indigenous organisms: Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Proteus mirabilis (P. mirabilis) were engaged for the remediation study. The organisms were isolated and cultured. Optimum weights of the distinct organisms were inoculated in 5g soils each conditioned with optimum values of pH, temperature, stirring frequency and nutrient in thirty-six 50 ml beakers; and experimented for residual lead ion at times 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 days in triplicate with Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Lead concentration in the soil was tackled by the three organisms, they were able to bring the initial concentration of lead to below the maximum allowable concentration, but this happened at different rates and efficiencies. For the three organisms, there was a continuous decline in the soil lead concentration with time. B. subtilis was able to bring the concentration to below the maximum allowable concentration at time 10 days with efficiency of 27.64% at a residual concentration of 94.32 mg/kg. In contrast, P. mirabilis and E. coli were able to bring the initial concentration to below the maximum allowable concentration at time 15 days with different efficiencies of 32.64 % at 87.81 mg/kg residual concentration for P. mirabilis and 34.30 % at 85.85 mg/kg residual concentration for E. coli. The initial strength rating showed B. subtilis to be ahead in strength, seconded by E. coli while P. mirabilis lagged behind them. This was noticed from time 5 days to 15 days. However, after this time, P. mirabilis was observed to take the lead, seconded by B. subtilis while E. coli lagged behind them. This is obviously remarkable in their 35 days removal efficiencies of 75.12% for P. mirabilis at a residual concentration of 32.44 mg/kg; 74.26 % for B. subtilis at a residual concentration of 33.55 mg/kg; and 52.26 % for E. coli at a residual concentration of 62.24 mg/kg. This shows that removal by B. subtilis is preferred on a short-run bioremediation, while removal by P. mirabilis is preferred on a long-run pollution control.

Keywords

• Remediation
• Indigenous Organisms
• Lead Concentration
• Pollution Control

References

1. Ukpong, E. C., Antigha, R. E., Moses, E. O. “Assessment Of Heavy Metals Content In Soils and Plants Around Waste Dumpsites In Uyo Metropolis, Akwa Ibom State”. Interna. J. Engin. Sci., Vol. 2, Issue 7, 2013, pp 75-86.
2. Gray, C.W., Dunham, S.J., Dennis, P.G., Zhao, F.J., McGrath, S.P. “Field Evaluation of In Situ Remediation of a Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil Using Lime and Red-Mud”. Envir. Pollu., Vol. 42, 2006, pp 531-539.
3. Akpor, O.B., Muchie, M. “Remediation of Heavy Metals in Drinking Water and Waste Water Treatment Systems: Processes and Applications”. Intern. J. Physi. Sci., Vol. 5, 2010, pp 1807-1817.
4. Nanda, S., Abraham, J. “Remediation of Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil”. Afri. J. Biotech., Vol. 12, No. 2, 2013, pp. 3099-3109.
5. Boonchan, S.; Britz, M. C. and Stanley, G. A. (2000). Degradation and mineralization of high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by defined fungal-bacterial cocultures, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol 66 (3), pp. 1007-1019.
6. Galiulin, R.V, Bashkin, V.N., Galiulina, R.A. and Kucharski R. (2002): Airborne Soil Contamination by Heavy Metals in Russia and Poland, and its Remediation, Land Contamination and Reclamation Vol. 10, No. 3, pp 179-187.
7. Hua, S., Juan, L., Xiaojun, M. ”Heavy Metals Spatial Distribution Characteristics in a Copper Mining Area of Zhejiang Province”. J. Geogr. Info. Syst., Vol. 4, 2012, pp 46-54.
8. Hani, A., Sinaei, N., Gholami, A. “Spatial Variability of Heavy Metals in the Soils of Ahwaz using Geostatistical Methods”. Intern. J. Environ. Sci. Dev., Vol. 5, No. 3, 2014, pp 294-298.

9. Bahi J.S., Radziah O., Samsuri A.W., Aminudin H., Fardin S.“Bioleaching of Heavy Metals from Mine Tailings by Aspergillus fumigatus”. Biorem. J., Vol. 16, 2012, pp 57-65.
10. Dixit, R., Wasiullah, Malaviya, D., Pandiyan, K., Sinhg, U.B., Sahu, A., Shukla, R., Singh, B.P., Rai, J.P., Sharma, P.K., Lade, H., Paul, D.“Bioremediation of Heavy metals from Soil and Aquatic Environment: An Overview of principles and Criteria of Fundamental Processes”. Sustai., Vol. 7, 2015, pp. 2189-2212.
11. Gupta, A., Joia, J., Sood, A., Sood, R., Sidhu, C., Kaur, G. “Microbes as Potential Tool for Remediation of Heavy Metals: A review”. J. Micro. Bioch. Techno. Vol. 8, 2016, pp 364-372.
12. Chiroma, T.M., Ebewele, R.O., Hymore, F.K. “Comparative Assessment of Heavy Metal Levels in Soil, Vegetables and Urban Grey Wastewater used for Irrigation in Yola and Kano”. Interna. Refer. J. Engin. Sci. Vol. 3, No. 2, 2014, pp 01-09.
13. Baron, E.J., Peterson, L.R., Finegold, S.M. “Bailey and Scotts Diagnostic Microbiology”, 9th Edition. Mosby, Baltimore, 1994.
14. Chessebrough, M. “Disrict Laboratory Pactice in Troppical Countries”. Part 2, Cambridge low Price Edition, Cambridge University Press, London, 2000.
15. Holt, J.C. “The Shorter Bergeys Manual of Determinative Bacteriology”. Eight Edition, Williams and Willkins Company, Baltimore, 1994.
16. Atikpo, E. “Spatial Distribution and Attenuation of Heavy Metals Pollution in Amaonye Ishiagu Forest Soils”. A PhD Thesis Submitted to the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, 2016.
17. Murthy, S., Bali, G. and Sarangi S.K. “Biosorption of lead by Bacillus cereus isolated from industrial effluents”. Brit. Biotech. J. Vol. 2, No. 2, 2012, pp 73-84.
18. Atikpo, E., Michael, A. “Performance Evaluation of Six Microorganisms ultilized for the Treatment of Lead Contaminated Agricultural Soil”. J. Appl. Sci. Envi. Manage. Vol. 22, No 7, 2018, pp 1105-1109.
19. Augustine, A.A., Orike, B.D., Edidiong, A.D. “Adsorption Kinetics and Modeling of Cu (II) Ion Sorption from Aqueous Solution by Mercaptoacetic Acid Modified Cassava (Manihot Sculenta Cranz) Wastes”. Electr. J. Environ. Agri. Foo. Chem., Vol. 6, No 4, 2007, pp. 2221-2234.
20. Igwe, J.C., Abia, A.A. “A Bioseperation Process for Removing Heavy Metals from Waste Water using Biosorbents”, Afri. J. Biotech., Vol. 5, 2006, pp. 1167-1179.
21. Lopez, A., Lazaro, N., Priego, J.M., Marques, A.M. “Effect of pH on the Biosorption of Nickel and other Heavy Metals by Pseudomonas fluorescens 4F39”. J. Indus. Micro. Biotech. Vol. 24, 2000, pp 146-151.
22. Samarth, D.P., Chandekar, C.J., Bhadekar. “Biosorption of Heavy Metals from Aqueous Solution using Bacillus licheniformis”. Inter. J. Pur. Appl. Sci. tech., Vol. 10, No 2, 2012, pp.12-19.
23. Ajaykumar, A.V., Nalf, A.D., Hilal, N. “Study of Various Parameters in the Biosorption of Heavy Metals on Sludge”. Wor. Appl. Sci. J., Vol. 5, 2009, pp 32-40.
24. Sang-Hwan, L., Seokho, L., Dae-Yeon, K., Jeong-gyu, K. “Degradation Characteristics of Waste Lubricants under Different Nutrient Conditions”. J. Hazar. Mate., Vol. 143, 2007, pp 65-72.
25. Thieman, W.J., Palladino, M.A. “Introduction to Biotechnology”. Second Edition, Pearson New York, 2009, pp 209-222.