Abstract

Metals and chemicals have been increased in industrial processes which they contain a high level of toxic heavy metals and cause a lot of disadvantages for the environment and human health. Biosorption of Pb (II) ions has been studied from aqueous solutions in a batch system by using a bacterial strain isolated from petrochemical wastewaters. Strain 8-I was selected to study the impact of different factors on removal rate. According to morphological, physiological and biochemical characterizations of the strain and in comparison with other studies the strain was tentatively identified as Bacillus sp strain 8-I. The maximum Lead biosorption capacity of 8-I isolate was determined to be 41.58 at pH 4.0 with 80 mg/l concentration in 48 hours equilibrium time. The comparison between the biosorption capacity of live (45.50 mg/g), heat inactivated (30.23 mg/g) and NaN3 pretreated biomass (26.86 mg/g) were indicated that the ability of live biomass for both of active and passive uptake of lead.