INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES,
ENGINEERING & PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES

Shweta Yadav, Dr. Neeta Sharma, Dr. Umashankar  & Avadhesh Kumar Mishra

Lucknow University, INDIA

The objective of the present study is to isolate a fungal strain capable of removing heavy metals from electroplating effluents. The effluent samples were collected from an electroplating industry, at Lucknow. Physico-chemical parameters of the effluent were analysed as total dissolved solids, pH and total suspended solids exceeded the permissible limits. Based on the biochemical tests and colony morphology the isolated organism was identified as Aspergillus niger and Penicillium sp. It was exposed to 10-100 ppm of Cr and Ni for 20 days. Optical density and pH were found to increase which indicated that A. niger and Penicillium sp. were able to tolerate the heavy metals. The efficiency of the strain was analyzed as removal of heavy metals which was checked by culturing in 25% concentration of the effluent. After 20 days of culturing fungal strains was removed and samples were analyzed with Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The highest removal efficiency was noticed by A. niger for chromium and nickel. The study suggests that the natural isolate, A. niger and Penicillium sp. have potential applications of removing and metabolize chromium and nickel from industrial effluents.