utilizing bioflocculants produced by bacteria to remediate oil contaminated water

Bioflocculants are extracellular polymeric substances (eps) synthesized and released by microorganisms including bacteria, algae and fungi with many applications for wastewater treatment. the current study aimed to produce bioflocculant compounds from bacteria and evaluate their efficiency in the treatment of polluted water with hydrocarbon. the bacteria were isolated from wastewater and oil-contaminated soils in basrah city, iraq. the bacteria used in the present study isolated and identified in a previous study, these isolates as aeromonas simiae and exiguobacterium profundum. both aeromonas simiae and exiguobacterium profundum demonstrated high efficacy in the remediation of wastewater from the najibiya plant achieving up to 88% turbidity reduction under optimal conditions. aeromonas simiae showed varied performance in removing total dissolved solids (tds), total suspended solids (tss), and total petroleum hydrocabons (tphs), with the best results at 43%, 57%, and 86.04% respectively, under specific ph and dosage conditions. similarly, exiguobacterium profundum showed excellent results, particularly in removing tds, tss and tphs, reaching up to 52%, 82% and 94.23% respectively. exiguobacterium profundum was highly effective bacterium in removing tphs from the wastewater of the al- najibiya plant reaching 94.23%. the effectiveness of both strains varied with ph levels and dosages, highlighting their potential in targeted wastewater remediation applications.