International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

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 Volume 10, Issue 7 (July 2023), Pages: 165-177

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 Original Research Paper

Evaluation of locally-available agricultural and industrial waste materials as effective carriers for bacterial inocula in freshwater bioremediation

 Author(s): 

 Gunasekara Wellappili Arachchige Pipuni Randima 1, Yapa Mudiyanselage Ajith Lalith Weerasingha Yapa 2, Kanaji Masakorala 1, Widana Gamage Shirani Manel Kumari 1, *

 Affiliation(s):

 1Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka
 2Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka

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 * Corresponding Author. 

  Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4361-5622

 Digital Object Identifier: 

 https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2023.07.018

 Abstract:

The pollution of freshwater is a pressing global environmental concern, necessitating effective management strategies for polluted aquatic environments. Bioremediation has emerged as a highly promising environmentally friendly approach. However, the selection of suitable candidates capable of effectively degrading or removing pollutants remains a challenging task. The introduction of live candidates, particularly bacteria, into natural environments also poses its own set of difficulties. To address these challenges, immobilizing bacteria within carrier materials has emerged as a leading option. In this study, we meticulously assessed the suitability of four locally-available and low-cost agricultural and industrial waste materials as carriers to transport bacteria into water bodies. The selection criteria encompassed bacteria immobilization capacity, viability, and the resulting water quality after treatment. In order to facilitate comparison, the widely-used sodium alginate was included as a benchmark, and Escherichia coli was employed as the model bacterial inoculum. Our findings revealed that alkaline pre-treatment of corn husk, rice husk, rice straw, and sugarcane bagasse significantly enhanced the bacteria immobilization capacity of these materials. Notably, the viability of bacteria in carrier materials, including sodium alginate, exhibited remarkable resilience, with a count of 107 CFU/g material even after 49 days of storage at room temperature. Moreover, upon determining the quality parameters of the receiving water, the introduction of rice husk and sodium alginate materials demonstrated no significant adverse impact. The quality parameters were well within the acceptable range defined by the World Health Organization standards for drinking water and the Sri Lankan ambient water quality standards for various purposes. Based on the overall performance evaluation, we advocate for the application of rice husk and sodium alginate as superior carriers for delivering bacterial inocula to aquatic environments, particularly in polluted water bodies targeted for bioremediation efforts. Nonetheless, we recommend the collection of carrier materials only after the establishment of bio inoculum in the receiving water, as a precautionary measure to minimize any potential impact on the chemical oxygen demand of the water.

 © 2023 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords: Pollution of freshwater, Bioremediation, Bacteria immobilization, Carrier materials, Water quality

 Article History: Received 11 January 2023, Received in revised form 26 May 2023, Accepted 29 May 2023

 Acknowledgment 

Financial assistance from the Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development (AHEAD) Operation of the Ministry of Higher Education funded by the World Bank is acknowledged.

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

 Randima GWAP, Yapa YMALW, Masakorala K, and Kumari WGSM (2023). Evaluation of locally-available agricultural and industrial waste materials as effective carriers for bacterial inocula in freshwater bioremediation. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 10(7): 165-177

 Permanent Link to this page

 Figures

 Fig. 1 

 Tables

 Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 

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