Vol. 10, Special Issue 10 (2021)

Author(s):
R Vijay, K Srinivasan, Arunkumar Anandharaj, N Baskaran, Ashish Rawson and S Vignesh

Abstract:
Fluoride (Fˉ) is a non-biodegradable pollutant that is relatively persistent in nature and poses serious threats even at low contamination levels. The drastic increase in urbanization, industrialization, and population resulted in alarming Fˉ ion pollution and intensive search for effective and inexpensive measures to combat its consequences. This study aims to identify Fˉ resistant bacteria out of 80 strains isolated from fruit and dairy wastes and their tolerance across a range of sodium fluoride concentrations (10 mM to 500 mM) through plate diffusion and tube dilution methods. This study was also navigated to investigate the exopolysaccharides (EPS) production capacity of strains identified for a high degree of Fˉ resistance. The fed-batch fermentation method was employed to bio-convert the food waste through supplementation of additional nitrogen sources. The yield of microbial EPS ranges from 1 - 10 mg/ 250 mL, and the FT-IR analysis confirmed their presence. This paper describes the potential of food waste as a valuable resource for producing biologically important polymers with commercial applications and mitigation of wastewater metals.