Ability of Bacillus mucilaginosus GY03 Strain to Adsorb Chromium Ions

A research with Bacillus mucilaginosus cultured in nitrogen-free medium for forming a flocculant material to adsorb Cr+6 was conducted to determine the effects of different pH, volume, treatment time, and chromium (VI) concentrations on chromium (VI) adsorption by microbial flocculant (MBF), which was produced from the B. mucilaginosus GY03 strain. The results showed that MBF had outstanding flocculation on chromium (VI). Based on the results of a oneway experiment and actual wastewater treatment conditions, the optimum conditions, obtained by using orthogonal experiments, for chromium (VI) adsorption by MBF were: Cr6+ solution pH of 9, flocculant material volume of 15 mL, treatment time of 12 h and chromium ion concentration of 30 mg L-1. The results demonstrated that the MBF produced from GY03 could be used in the chromium-containing wastewater treatment. Meanwhile, after extraction and analysis of the MBF polysaccharides, it was found that MBF was mainly composed of glycoprotein. Analysis on constituents of monosaccharide showed that polysaccharides of B. mucilaginosus were composed of rhamnose, glucose etc. Thus, because it was applied over a wide range of pH, in small amounts and had a rapid flocculation speed the flocculant used in this experiment had a vast field of application potential.