I recently visited a small scale foundry for environmental inspection. They have a small waste water treatment unit also. My job was to conduct chemical analysis of the treated water. In the process we measured some of the factors like pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, concentration of iron and total organic carbon – TOC. And we found out that there is still heavy metal that is Iron (Fe) in the treated water. The existing treatmnet procedures require a lot of expenditure to upgrade and modify. I was reading that some of the microbes could do this job very easily. Can anyone guide me if we want to treat waste water containing iron, can microbes be used for this purpose?
What are the different microbes to be used? I hear that F. thioxidans will remove Fe from waste water. Has anyone used this? Your experience much appreciated and will guide us.
Anaerobes S. maltophilia BK and B. denitrificans MK can reduce Fe. These micro-organisms can be used for anaerobic removal of phosphate and xenobiotics by bacterial reduction of ferric ions.
What are you relating to? just Iron or heavy metals i.e. chromium, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, arsenic, selenium, silver, cadmium, antimony, mercury, thallium and lead It's a different ball game.
secondary waste water treatment or biological waste treatment is the best option for heavy metal removal from waste water. because heavy metal is the best food of mircobes.
I have heard of a biological process being used for iron and manganese removal which is often a problem in groundwater to be used for potable water in my country South Africa. I don't have direct experience in this. I would expect that a specific culture will be needed to seed and start the process and possibly other nutrients may be needed to get the effective cell mass growth for optimum removal of an activated sludge by settlement of dissolve air flotation.
I suggest that you look into the literature on treatment of acid mine drainage or acid rock drainage by use of artificial wetlands and microbial processes. The technology is mature, numerous guidance documents and professional papers are available. It has a small footprint with respect to flow rate. Microbes work!