title: Biological neutralization of chlor-alkali industry wastewater.
abstract: The present work reports biological neutralization of chlor-alkali industrial effluent by an alkaliphilic bacterium, isolated from the Gujarat coast, which was identified as Enterococcus faecium strain R-5 on the basis of morphological, biochemical and partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The isolate was capable of bringing down the pH of waste water from 12.0 to 7.0 within 3 h in the presence of carbon and nitrogen sources, with simultaneous reduction in total dissolved solutes (TDS) up to 19-22%. This bacterium produced carboxylic acid, as revealed by FT-IR analysis, which facilitated neutralization of alkaline effluent. The presence of unconventional raw materials viz. Madhuca indica flowers or sugar cane bagasse as carbon and nitrogen sources could effectively neutralize alkaline effluent and thus making the bioremediation process economically viable. The time required for neutralization varied with size of inoculum. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on biological neutralization of a chlor-alkali industrial effluent.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Marine Biotechnology and Ecology, Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), G.B. Marg, Bhavnagar Gujarat 364021, India. rmjain@csmcri.org
authors.forename: Rakeshkumar M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: Kalpana H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Mody
authors.forename: Jitendra
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keshri
authors.forename: Bhavanath
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jha
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis; D002264:Carboxylic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry; D002617:Chemical Industry; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D035264:Flowers / Q000737:chemistry; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007194:India; D032128:Madhuca; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002264:Carboxylic Acids; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002244:Carbon; D002482:Cellulose; C027433:bagasse; D009584:Nitrogen