ABSTRACT
Chromium is one of the toxic and hazardous pollutants in industrial wastewaters leading to soil contamination. In this study, the feasibility of remediating chromium contaminated soil using indigenous microorganisms and Pseudomonas fluorescens was evaluated. The contaminated soil sample was collected from Vellore and the pH, moisture content and chromium content were found to be 8.4, 22.5% and 5.1 mg/kg respectively. The effect of chromium on engineering properties showed decrease in permeability by 45.15%. For Pseudomonas fluorescens, the optimum pH, moisture content, biomass concentration and carbon source were found as 6.5, 20%, 10 mL and 10 mL/100 g respectively and for isolated mixed culture, the optimum parameters were found as 8.4, 25%, 15 mL and 15mL / 100 g respectively. Under optimum conditions, the reactor study showed 71.7% chromium reduction after 20 days. From the study, the bioremediation of chromium-contaminated soil by indigenous microorganisms was found to be a promising solution and after bioremediation, the engineering properties of the soil were found to be improved.