Studies on bacterial growth and lead(IV) biosorption using <i style="">Bacillus subtilis</i>

Abstract

Gram-positive bacterium <i style="">Bacillus subtilis</i> biosorbs lead(IV) ion from its aqueous solution. The maximum biosorption of lead is 97.68% (<i style="">w</i>/<i style="">w</i>) within 48 h of incubation time with optimum <i style="">p</i>H 4.5 and optimum temperature 40°C for 700 ppm initial loading of lead in a shake flask (optimum rpm 60). 7 days old and 30% (<i style="">v</i>/<i style="">v</i>) of suspension inoculum culture is used in the studies. Lead is measured by using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) into an air-acetylene flame and absorbance is measured at 283.3 nm. The maximum bacterial growth is noticed as 4.90<img src='/image/spc_char/cross.gif' border=0>10⁸cells/mL at optimum bioprocess conditions.