ABSTRACT
Biosorption is a biological remediation technology that involves the removal of metal species from a solution by inexpensive biomaterials. The subject matter has been of scientific relevance from previous researches for its efficiency, relatively low cost and minimal negative effects to the environment. The project was aimed at determination of heavy metal biosorption efficiency of the bacteria isolated from the soil of uwelu metal dumpsite. Soil sample from uwelu metal dumpsite, Benin City, Edo state, Nigeria, the location was preferred because of the high concentrations of metallic waste, the sample was taken to the laboratory for bacteria isolation and physicochemical determination. The isolated bacteria were screened for their percentage tolerance against the heavy metal cobalt, copper, lead and nickel. From the results, the identified bacteria were Proteus vulgaris, Acinetobacter lwoffi, Enterobacter sp., Escherichia coli, Micrococcus luteus, Clostridium perfringes and Arthrobacter sp. The soil physicochemical parameter showed that the pH, organic carbon, organic matter, total nitrogen values were 8.40±0.00, 3.84±0.05 (TOC), 6.61±0.08 kg and 0.23±0.02 mg/l respectively. The bacterial isolate with the highest % tolerance to two heavy metals was Arthrobacter sp with values of 100% for lead and nickel respectively, Clostridium perfringes had the highest % tolerance to two heavy metals with values of 100%, 272.72% for cobalt and copper. The bacterial isolate with the least % toleranceto two heavy metalswas Acinetobacter lwoffi with values of 1.84%, 2.78% fornickel and copper respectively. Micrococcus luteus had the least % tolerance towith value of 1.56%for lead. The isolates Enterobacter sp. and Arthrobacter sp. both showed 0 % tolerance to copper from the analysis carried out. Due to the high percentage (%) tolerance of the isolates, could made them useful as a bioagent for biosorption of heavy metals from the environment.
