Abstract

Identification and Evaluation of Heterophobic Phosphate-Solubilizing Potential Metal Resistant Bacterium Isolated from Linz-Donawitz Slag

Author(s): Sanjukta Banerjee, Ratnabali Bose, M. Sudarshan, Punarbasu Chaudhuri, Romit Mitra and Subarna Bhattacharyya*

Linz-Donawitz (LD) slag which is a waste product of steel industry causes great disposal problem. The high concentration of calcium oxide (CaO) in the slag can partially substitute the use of limestone as a flux material in blast furnace, provided that the phosphorous (P) content of the slag can be reduced below 0.5 %. Here an attempt was made to study the phosphate solubilizing property of a bacterium, isolated from 30 days old LD slag enriched with vermi-compost (VC-1) which could solubilize 79.5% of phosphorous at 5% (w/v). Micro X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrophotometer (ED-XRF) study revealed that the isolated Bacillus sp. reduced 67.5% of total chromium, maintaining concentration of CaO, indicating that the treated LD slag could be re-used in steel processing industry. As the supernatant generated after phosphate removal was useful for seed germination which indicate that VC-1 was an effective strain in waste management in steel industry.