Removal of Lead by Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from E-Waste Dumpsite

Abstract

Soil samples obtained from e-waste dumpsite in Kansuwan Gwari, Minna, Nigeria were used for the isolation of microorganisms used in lead (Pb) biosorption studies. The soil sample was cultured for the test organisms (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus). Box Behnken design was used to optimize the removal of lead by the test organisms. The factors used in the Box Behnken design included: temperature, pH and lead concentration. For Bacillus subtilis, the analysis of variance for the response(lead removal) gave a probability value of 0.651 for the regression, which showed the model was not quite fit for the design since the p-value(0.651) was greater than 0.05. For Staphylococcus aureus, the results of the analysis of variance for the response indicated that the probability value of 0.983 for the regression showed that the model was not a good fit for the design since the p-value (0.983) was equally greater than 0.05. More models could be applied to various fields in microbiology as it reduces the time for lengthy experiments and tends to narrow the experiment to how effectively the results can be achieved. This study can be applied to the bigger picture of the effective pH, temperature and other parameters for the clean-up of pollution in the environment.