Removal of Cadmium and Zinc from Soil using Immobilized Cell of Biosurfactant Producing Bacteria

Abstract

Immobilized biosurfactant producing bacteria (Bacillus subtilis TP8 and Pseudomonas fluorescens G7) were assessed for survival in heavy metal contaminated soil and for their ability to remove cadmium and zinc from contaminated soil. P. fluorescens G7 was considered to be a good candidate for bioremediation of heavy metals because of its high minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for each heavy metal and because of the obviously increased numbers of cell surviving after incubation in the heavy metal contaminated soil up to 4 weeks. The results of soil remediation showed that approximately 19% of Zn and 16.7% of Cd could be removed by this immobilized biosurfactant producing bacteria after incubation for 2 weeks. The results confirm the potential applicability of the immobilized biosurfactant producing bacteria for heavy metal bioremediation.

Keywords

• cadmium
• zinc
• immobilized cell
• biosurfactant