Sustainable approach to reduce Lead(II) from wastewater using indigenous bacterial strains

The study explores the potential of three indigenous bacterial strains for Lead(II) removal individually from synthetic wastewater. The isolated strains Bacillus subtilis NITSP1 and, Rhizobium pusense NITSP2, were observed to grow till 1000 mg/L of Pb(II) in 24 h at 35±2°C at neutral pH, while the strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa NITSP3 was restricted to grow beyond 700 mg/L under same conditions. The effectiveness of Pb(II) removal by bacteria was assessed by varying several operating factors, using One-factor-at-a-time analysis. Elemental composition and functional group analyses of the native and metal-loaded cells were done using Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, respectively. A semiempirical logistic model was used to predict the growth of bacterial strains in wastewater. Again, a hybrid approach consisting of Artificial Neural Network, Artificial Intelligence model fitting method, and Steepest Ascent algorithm, was used to model and optimize the removal of metals. The experimental results were validated with predicted ones. [Display omitted] •3 indigenous bacterial isolates from an industrial effluent were used to remove Pb(II) from a synthetic Pb(II)laden LB medium.•The minimum inhibitory concentration of Pb(II) was determined for these three bacterial isolates.•OFAT analysis was used to identify optimal conditions for 3 bacteria to remove Pb(II) from synthetic Pb(II)laden LB medium.•Physicochemical characterization was performed on both the native and treated bacterial biomass.•For modeling and optimizing the process variables, ANN and SAA were employed.