Biosorption of cadmium and manganese using free cells of Klebsiella sp. isolated from waste water

Abstract

In the present study, we evaluated a bacterium that was isolated from waste water for itsability to take up cadmium and manganese. The strain, identified both biochemically and by its 16S rRNA gene sequence as Klebsiella, was named Yangling I2 and was found to behighly resistant to heavy metals. Surface characterization of the bacterium via SEM revealed gross morphological changes, with cells appearing as biconcave discs after metalexposure rather than their typical rod shape. The effects of pH, temperature, heavy metal concentration, agitation and biomass concentration on the uptake of Cd(II) and Mn(II) wasmeasured using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The results showed that the biosorption was most affected by pH and incubation temperature, being maximized at pH 5.0and 30°C, with absorption capacities of 170.4 and 114.1 mg/g for Cd(II) and Mn(II), respectively. Two models were investigated to compare the cells' capacity for the biosorption of Cdand Mn, and the Langmuir model based on fuzzy linear regression was found to be close to the observed absorption curves and yield binding constants of 0.98 and 0.86 for Cd and Mn, respectively. This strain of Klebsiella has approximately ten times the absorption capacity reported for other strains and is promising for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater.