Abstract

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CHROMIUM REDUCING BACILLUS SP FROM SOIL SAMPLES OF TANNERY INDUSTRIES AT RANIPET, VELLORE DISTRICT

*M. Chandran, N. Bharathiraja, R. Mangaleshwari and M. Thiruvalluvan

ABSTRACT

Place Ranipet is famous for tannery industries. All the industries release more than 10000 litre of purified, partially purifies and polluted effluents into the nearby water bodies. The chromium present in this effluent contaminates the quality of both surface and ground water and affects the aquatic organisms in various ways. Hence, in the present investigation, the chromium contaminated soils were screened for the isolation of chromium reducing bacteria to evaluate its efficacy. According to the obtained results, the Bacillus sp obtained from this study can tolerate chromium concentration up to 500ppm. The chromium degrading efficiencies were bound to be 80%, 65%, 44% and 18.4% at Cr concentrations 50,100,150 and 250ppm respectively (pH-7). The degrading efficiencies were bound to be 80%, 65%,44% and 18.4% at Cr concentrations 50,100,150 and 250ppm respectively.

Keywords: Ranipet, chromium, Bacillus sp , isolation, characterization, soil and tannery industry.