Ugbenyen Anthony Moses, Vine Niall, Simonis Jean Jacques, BassonAlbertusKotzeand Okoh Anthony Ifeanyi. (2015). Characterisation of a bioflocculant produced from the consortium of three marine bacteria of the genera Cobetia and Bacillus and its application for wastewater treatment. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development. 5(1): 81-88.          

Abstract: In this study, we purified and characterized bioflocculant from a mixed culture of three marine

bacteria (Cobetia sp. OAUIFE, Bacillus sp. MAYA, and Bacillus sp. Gilbert with accession number

JF799092, JF799093, and HQ537128, respectively) isolated from the sediment sample of Algoa Bay

South Africa. The bioflocculant from the consortium showed high flocculation of river water, brewery

wastewater, and dairy wastewater, with resultant flocculating activities of 96.4%, 93.7%, and 82.2%,

respectively. The applicability of the bioflocculant for removing turbidity and reducing chemical

oxygen demand (COD) from these real wastewaters was excellent. The bioflocculant turbidity

removal efficiency for brewery wastewater was 92%, while its COD reduction efficiency for dairy

wastewater was 99%. A scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of the purified bioflocculant

revealed an amorphous morphology, while Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) analysis also revealed

the presence of amino, hydroxyl, and carboxyl functional groups among others, which could be

responsible for the high-flocculating activity of the bioflocculant. This environmental-friendly

bioflocculant holds promise for application in the field of biotechnology.

Key words | bioflocculant, biotechnology, COD reduction, turbidity, wastewater