Effect of pretreatment of Bacillus subtilis biomass on biosorption and its real time application

The research study investigated the biosorption behavior of Pb(II) ions by treated and untreated biomass of B. subtilis. At initial biosorption conditions, the biosorption efficiency was found to be 36.75%. At the optimized experimental conditions, control biomass showed maximum biosorption efficiency of 58.04% where the biomass was treated with different chemicals. The biomass treated with formaldehyde showed the highest efficiency of 80.9% which was further optimized and attained maximum efficiency of 89.8% for Pb(II) ions. SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and EDX (Energy dispersive X-ray) analysis evaluates the structural and elemental changes that occurred as a result of biosorption. Functional groups that are involved in biosorption were revealed by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy). Kinetic data showed the best fit with the pseudo second-order model. Effective removal of lead ions from industrial contaminated water sources by pretreatment biomass of B. subtilis elucidates its potential use as biosorbent for metal remediation.