Abstract
Chromium (Cr) is used by different industries like ferrochrome, electroplating, and tanning industries, because of its hardness, coloration, and anti-corrosive properties. Chromium exists in various oxidation states in the environment, out of which trivalent (Cr3+) and hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) are generally found in aqueous medium. Hexavalent chromium is mutagenic and carcinogenic and causes various health implications. Thus, the removal of Cr6+ from the contaminated environmental matrix especially water is of fundamental importance for environmental technologists and policy makers alike. Various remediation technologies are proposed by the researchers and microbial remediation techniques are recognized as an effective and economic solution for Cr6+ removal from effluents. Bacteria and Archean species growing in Cr-contaminated soil or water can evolve various biochemical mechanisms to combat the Cr6+ toxicity, and these acclimatized microbes can be effectively used for efficient bioremediation of Cr6+-contaminated wastewater. Hexavalent chromium tolerance and reduction have been observed in various microbial species like Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Nesterenkonia, Staphylococcus, and Arthrobacter. This chapter gives a critical insight into the utility of these microbes for the reduction and subsequent removal of Cr6+ from contaminated water. This chapter also shed light on the utility of microbes for Cr6+ removal and to understand the mechanism of their Cr-tolerance, remediation. The focus is to identify an economic, easy, and eco-friendly technique that can be applied on both the pilot and larger scale to cater Cr6+ free water to the populace. This work concludes that, mixed culture-based bioreactors constructed with Cr6+-tolerant, acclimatized microbial stains can be effectively used in treating Cr6+ contaminated wastewater.
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Naz, A., Chowdhury, A., Mishra, B.K. (2021). An Insight into Microbial Remediation of Hexavalent Chromium from Contaminated Water. In: Kumar, M., Snow, D., Honda, R., Mukherjee, S. (eds) Contaminants in Drinking and Wastewater Sources. Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4599-3_9
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