Multimetal bioremediation from aqueous solution using dead biomass of Mucor sp. NRCC6 derived from detergent manufacturing effluent.

Among ten metal-tolerant fungal isolates obtained from the microbiomes of detergent industry effluent, Mucor sp. NRCC6 showed the highest tolerance and an adaptive behavior toward the heavy metals Ni, Pb, Mn, and Zn. It gave the highest growth rates 0.790 ± 0.59, 0.832 ± 0.32, 0.774 ± 0.40, and 0.741 ± 1.06 mm/h along with the lowest growth inhibition 9.19, 4.37, 11.04, and 14.83% in the presence of Pb, Zn, Ni, and Mn, respectively, at a concentration of 5.0 g/L. Then, Mucor sp. NRCC6 was selected as a biotrap for the removal of these heavy metals. The optimized operating conditions were detected to be pH 6.0 for Pb, Zn, and Mn and pH 5.5 for Ni at 30 °C; agitation speed 150 rpm; contact time 30 min for Mn and Ni, 30-60 min for Pb, and 90-180 min for Zn; NRCC6 biomass dosage 5.0 g/L for Ni and Pb and 10.0 g/L for Mn and Zn; and initial concentration 12 mg/L of each ion in the multimetal aqueous solutions. Under these optimized conditions, the adsorption capacity for Pb, Ni, Mn, and Zn reached 98.75, 59.25, 58.33, and 50.83%. The Langmuir isotherm was the best for describing the adsorption of Zn (0.970) and Mn (0.977). The Freundlich isotherm significantly giving a good fit to the adsorption of Pb (0.998) while the adsorption of Ni onto NRCC6 biomass can follow DKR (0.998). Furthermore, the current study revealed that Mucor sp. NRCC6 fungus is a new efficient and eco-friendly method that revealed a maximum removal of 100% for Pb and Zn as well as 97.39, 88.70, 78.95, 74.0, 70.22, 68.57, and 60.0% for Ni, Mn, Cd, Cu, Fe, As, and Cr from the industrial wastewater, respectively.