Bioremediation of tannery effluent using Cyanobacterium

R. Dhamotharan¹, S. Murugesan² and M. Yoganandam³

¹PG and Research Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology, Presidency College, Chennai - 05 India.

²Unit of Environmental Sciences and Algal Biotechnology, PG and Research Department of Botany, Pachaiyappa’s College, Chennai - 30 India.

³Department of Industrial Biotechnology, MGR University, Chennai - 95 India.

Corresponding Author E-mail: murugesan5@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT: The healthier industry is indeed booming in our economy but the wastes given off from tannery contribute towards the problem of pollution. Bioremediation of metals by cyanobacteria has been recognized as a potential alternative for the existing technologies for removal of metal pollutants from industrial or urban wastewater. The heavy metal chromium, discharged from tanneries causes photo toxicity, and also enters the food chain resulting in toxins found in is extremely in animals and carcinogenic in nature to human beings. In study showed, chromium removal by using cyanobacterium, the potential of cyanobacterium, for bioremediation of metals has been studied. They are found to accumulate in metals by means of metabolic dependence uptake systems or by adsorption on to cell wall surfaces and external envelopes. The present study also reveals that cyanobacterium Oscillatoria sp is a bioremediation agent which brings about the reduction of metals which cause pollution. It is also observed to serve as a simple and sensitive, bio-economic component of the rapid tannery recycling process of effluents.

KEYWORDS: Tannery effluent; Oscillatoria sp; Bioremediation

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