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The bioflocculant producing bacterial strain - UKD24 was isolated from the domestic sewage treatment plant. The isolated strain was identified as

The aqueous extract of various plants like Coriandrum sativum (AECS), Alternanthera tenella colla (AEAT), Spermacoce hispida (AESH) and Mollugo verticillata (AEMV) was studied for its hexavalent chromium (CrVI) reduction property. Even though antioxidant activity was present, AEAT, AESH and AEMV did not reduce CrVI. AECS showed rapid and dose-dependent CrVI reduction. The efficient reduction of 50 mg/L of CrVI using AECS was attained in the presence of 250 µg/mL of starting plant material, incubating the reaction mixture at pH 2, 30°C and agitation at 190 rpm. Under such conditions, about 40 mg/L of CrVI was reduced at 3 h of incubation. FT-IR analysis revealed the involvement of phenols, alcohols, alpha-hydroxy acid and flavonoids present in the AECS for the CrVI reduction. These results indicate that not all the plant extracts with rich antioxidants are capable of reducing CrVI. Using the conditions standardized in the present study, AECS reduced about 80% of CrVI present in the tannery effluent...

The main concern of extensive production of biobutanol has been associated with the high cost of the substrate and the relatively low tolerance of Clostridia to biobutanol production. In this study, the use of fermentable cassava waste residue (CWR) as substrate for biobutanol production was investigated using solvent-tolerant Clostridium sp. Four of obligatory, solvent-producing bacteria were isolated from sago industry waste sites. The NSW, PNAS1, SB5 and SBI4 strains showed identical profiles of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of Bacillus coagulans, Clostridium bifermentans and Clostridium sp. (97% similarity) and a wide range of carbohydrate substrate; however, the CWR was found to be suitable for the production of biobutanol considerably. Batch culture study was carried out using parameters such as time and temperature and carbon sources have been studied and optimized. Using pre-optimized CWR medium, significant amount of solvent production was observed in NSW, PNAS1, SB5 and SBI4 with 1.53, 3.36, 1.56 and 2.5 g L

Laccase was produced from Pleurotus florida under solid-state fermentation, and the production was optimized by response surface methodology. The predicted maximum laccase production of 8.81 U g(-1) was obtained by the optimum concentration of malt extract, banana peel, wheat bran and CuSO4, which was found to be 0.69 g, 10.61 g, 10.68 g and 77.15 ppm, respectively. The validation results suggested that the laccase production was 7.96 U g(-1) in the optimized medium, which was close to the predicted value. Decolorization efficiency of P. florida laccase was evaluated against malachite green (MG). Rapid decolorization of MG dye was observed, and a dark-coloured precipitate was formed in the reaction mixture. HPLC analysis indicated that the laccase enzyme degraded MG by the demethylation process. The toxicity of MG was reduced to 67% after the treatment with laccase, which was confirmed by a phytotoxicity study.