Simultaneous removal of malachite green and lead from water by consortium dry-biomasses of Bacillus licheniformis AG3 and Bacillus cereus M116.

Synthetic textile dye malachite green (MG) and heavy metals present in industrial wastewater are hazardous to the ecosystem. Bioremediation of dyes and heavy metals using dry-biomasses has advantages over chemical methods. This study screened an acclimatized, heavy metal-resistant, and dye-degrading Gram positive Bacillus licheniformis AG3 strain from the textile wastewater near Kolkata, West Bengal. The EDXRF analysis of this colored wastewater effluent showed 36.33 mg/L lead, significantly higher than the WHO recommendation. Previously, Bag et al. showed bioremediation of synthetic dyes using dry-biomass of Bacillus cereus M116 from an aqueous solution (Bag et al. Arch Microbiol 203(7):3811-3823, 2021). Here, a consortium of dry-biomasses of B. licheniformis AG3 and B. cereus M116 strains (1:1 w/w ratio) was prepared for the simultaneous removal of lead and MG from wastewater. Statistical optimization determines that the pH, initial concentration of contaminants, and dry-biomass concentrations are critical for bioremediation under batch procedures. Further, optimization using the response surface methodology showed that 0.01% consortium dry-biomasses eliminated a maximum of 99.35% MG and 96.01% lead (II) within 6 h. SEM-EDS and FTIR confirmed a strong surface biosorption. Furthermore, a fixed-bed biofilter column of the consortium dry-biomasses was prepared, which was able to remove 98.1% MG and 98.5% lead at the 0.5-1 mL/min flow rate. Together, this study developed a biofilter with a consortium dry biomasses of B. licheniformis AG3 and B. cereus M116 for the simultaneous removal of MG and lead from wastewater.

Biosorption of organic dye Acridine orange from aqueous solution using dry biomass of Bacillus cereus M116.

Acridine orange (AO), a basic carcinogenic fluorochrome dye, is used in the industry for staining. In this study, Gram-positive bacteria, Bacillus cereus M116 (MTCC 5521) dry biomass was tested as an eco-friendly, easily available, and cheap biosorbent for the AO dye removal. We obtained optimum biosorption of AO at a biomass concentration of 0.25 g/L and initial dye concentrations of 50-400 mg/L at neutral to basic pH within the 300 min contact time. Kinetics analysis of the biosorption process was best fitted with the pseudo-second-order reaction type. We also performed the isotherm analysis to predict the nature of the reaction taking place, which was found to follow the Redlich Peterson isotherm model with high determination coefficients. The maximum sorption capacity was 210.46 mg/g of dry biomass. The differential FTIR spectroscopic analysis of pristine and AO-treated Bacillus cereus M116 cells suggested the potential involvement of carbonyl, hydroxyl, and amine groups in the biosorption process. Also, the scanning electron microscopy of the cells after AO removal confirmed a gross surface alteration compared to the untreated cells. Furthermore, Response Surface Model (RSM) analysis with the three-way ANOVA test confirms statistically significant interactions between the dye concentration, pH, and temperature with the biosorption capacity (p < 0.001). Hence, the dry biomass of Bacillus cereus M116 was found to be an effective bio-remedial for the AO removal.

Anti-biofilm activity and food packaging application of room temperature solution process based polyethylene glycol capped Ag-ZnO-graphene nanocomposite.

Present work reports on synthesis and anti-biofilm activity as well as food packaging application of Ag-ZnO-reduce graphene oxide (rGO)-polyethylene glycol (PEG) (AZGP) nanocomposites via adopting room temperature solution process by varying silver nitrate content (up to 0.1 M) with fixed content of graphene oxide and PEG used in the precursors. Presence of Ag and ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) distributed uniformly over rGO nanosheets has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopic analyses whereas FTIR, Raman, UV-Visible and X-ray photoelectron spectral studies have been performed to confirm the existence of chemical interaction/complexation that happened between the available oxygen functionalities of rGO and PEG with the inorganic moieties (Ag-ZnO/Zn2+) of AZGP samples. A formation mechanism of AZGP nanocomposite is proposed based on the experimental results. Anti-biofilm activity has been studied on Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria to confirm the efficiency of the nanocomposites for killing the bacterial cells. It is found that 0.05 M silver nitrate based AZGP nanocomposite at 31.25 µg/mL sample dosage shows about 95% inhibition activity towards the biofilm formation as well as eradication of preformed biofilm. Also, agar based AZGP film has been fabricated and characterized by X-ray diffraction study for the purpose of food packaging application. Textural analysis of agar based film shows an enhanced film tensile strength. The film also shows an excellent antimicrobial activity even after keeping it for a prolong period of about 90 days. This cost effective simple synthesis strategy can make an avenue for development of Ag incorporated other biocompatible metal oxide based rGO-PEG nanocomposites for potential food packaging application.

Study on gelatin-silver nanoparticle composite towards the development of bio-based antimicrobial film.

Nano-scale silver particle stabilized by gelatin protein was prepared through the reduction of aqueous silver nitrate solution by sodium borohydride. Gelatin concentration was varied against a fixed concentration of silver nitrate to optimize the gelatin to metal ratio. Gelatin-protected Ag-nanoparticle was characterized by UV-VIS spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). All the samples exhibited similar yellow color with a characteristic plasmonic band of silver nanoparticles at 412 nm. TEM micrographs also showed the presence of nanoscale silver particles of approximately 3.9 nm. Since silver has strong bactericidal properties and at the same time relatively less toxic to human cell, silver in various forms is ideally suited for a wide range of applications in consumer, industrial and medical products The antimicrobial properties of gelatin-silver nanocomposites were tested by 'cup-plate zone of inhibition' method. The nanocomposites exhibited significant antibacterial and antifungal activity.