Production and Characterization of Bioflocculant by Freshwater Bacteria Recovered From Surface Water and Sediment Matrix

Etinosa O. Igbinosa¹*, Abeni Beshiru^1,2, Isoken H. Igbinosa^1,3, Imaobong I. Peter¹

¹Applied Microbial Processes & Environmental Health Research Group (AMPEHREG), Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria

²Department of Microbiology, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Western Delta University, Oghara , Nigeria 

³Department of Environmental Management and Toxicology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria

Corresponding Author: [email protected]; Tel: +2348114744531

Recieved Date: August 18, 2020; Accepted Date: October 02, 2020; Published Date: 03 October 2020

Citation: Igbinosa EO, Beshiru A, Igbinosa IH, Peter II. Production and Characterization of Bioflocculant by Freshwater Bacteria Recovered From Surface Water and Sediment Matrix. Trop J Nat Prod Res. 2020; 4(9):630-635.  https://doi.org/10.26538/tjnpr/v4i9.22

Copyright: © 2020 Igbinosa et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

ABSTRACT

The development of flocculants that are biodegradable, safe and subsequently reduce health and environmental risks is highly required. The present study was designed to evaluate bioflocculant production by freshwater bacteria recovered from surface water and sediment milieu. The flocculating activity (FA) was ascertained using kaolin clay as the suspended solids. The resultant effects of diverse sources of nitrogen and carbon on bioflocculant activity and the bioflocculant characterization were assessed using spectrophotometric method. Among the bacteria isolates screened for bioflocculant activity, three bacteria exhibited significant bioflocculant activity. The API-20NE identification system assigned the bacteria to Ralstonia pickettii (>99%); Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (>98%) and Alcaligenes sp. (>99%). Among the diverse carbon sources analyzed for R. pickettii, fructose and glucose showed effectiveness for bioflocculant production. An increase in the FA was observed as the pH increases and it attains optimum at neutral pH, and subsequently drops as the increase in pH reached pH 11 for R. pickettii and S. maltophilia. The FA was noticed to rise with culture age with a peak of activity attained after 9 days of cultivation. The purified bioflocculant yield was 0.263, 0.32 and 0.341 g for S. maltophilia, R. pickettii and Alcaligenes sp., respectively. Chemical analysis of the purified bioflocculant from R. pickettii and Alcaligenes sp. revealed that it contained both protein and carbohydrate while that of S. maltophilia contained only carbohydrate. Findings from this study revealed that purified bioflocculant bacteria from freshwater milieus can find application in the establishment of process condition for large scale effluent treatment process.