Thermophilic remediation of iron using Bacillus thermophilus: effect of variables and microbiological characteristics

In industrial effluent water, heavy metal ions are considered as common toxic contaminants. Using thermophilic bacterial strains, the present study offers a pilot study for eliminating excess iron elements from the wastewater and environment. The iron bioremediation potential of metal resistant bacterial isolate (GA6), which originated from the Gauri Kund hot spring in Uttarakhand, India, was examined. With a 98.14% similarity, 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that this isolate was Bacillus thermophilus HS-BTL2. Based on the findings, the Bacillus thermophilus HS-BTL2 bacterium successfully removed iron from its solutions after 48 h incubation period at a temperature of 55 °C and pH 7.0. A considerably greater 91.79% iron was removed from the metal-contaminated solution by the dead biomass of Bacillus thermophilus HS-BTL2. Compared to the dead biomass of the bacterial strain, the live Bacillus thermophilus HS-BTL2 bacterial cell can only biosorb 86.17% iron from the metal-containing solution. Following its inoculation into the industrial effluent water, the Bacillus thermophilus HS-BTL2 strain was able to biosorb 63.94% of the iron metal elements present in the effluent.