Bacteria-immobilized electrospun fibrous polymeric webs for hexavalent chromium remediation in water

The development of hexavalent chromium remediating fibrous biocomposite mats through the immobilization of a hexavalent chromium reducing bacterial strain, Morganella morganii STB5, on the surfaces of electrospun polystyrene and polysulfone webs is described. The bacteria-immobilized biocomposite webs have shown removal yields of 93.60 and 93.79 % for 10 mg/L, 99.47 and 90.78 % for 15 mg/L and 70.41 and 68.27 % for 25 mg/L of initial hexavalent chromium within 72 h, respectively, and could be reused for at least five cycles. Storage test results indicate that the biocomposite mats can be stored without losing their bioremoval capacities. Scanning electron microscopy images of the biocomposite webs demonstrate that biofilms of M. morganii STB5 adhere strongly to the fibrous polymeric surfaces and are retained after repeated cycles of use. Overall, the results suggest that reusable bacteria-immobilized fibrous biocomposite webs might be applicable for continuous hexavalent chromium remediation in water systems. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13762-016-1033-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & T. Uyar [email protected] 1 Institute of Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Bilkent University, 06800 Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey 2 UNAM-National Nanotechnology Research Center, Bilkent University, 06800 Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey 3 Department of Medical Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Gazi University, 06500 Besevler, Ankara, Turkey 4 Life Sciences Application and Research Center, Gazi University, 06830 Golbasi, Ankara, Turkey 123 Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. (2016) 13:2057–2066 DOI 10.1007/s13762-016-1033-0