Exploring Microbial Approaches for the Bioremediation of Heavy Metal-Contaminated Soils

Bioremediation functions as a sustainable microbial-based approach to remove heavy metals from environments. The study examines how bacteria extracted from soil contamination areas of Balanagar (Hyderabad) and Eloor (Kerala) perform in bioremediation processes. Different biochemistry tests using IMViC procedures together with catalase activity tests helped identify multiple bacterial strains. This study examined metal absorption and microbial biomass growth along with heavy metal and Indole-3 acetic acid interrelations to assess microbial efficiency. Spectrophotometric measurements detected heavy metals to track their removal efficiency in the studied system. The laboratory data showed Gram-positive bacteria predominated in Sample 1 from Balanagar while Sample 2 from Eloor was characterized by Gram-negative bacteria. The analyzed samples proved to have catalase enzyme capabilities and presented equivalent outcomes from the IMViC testing method. The biomass quantity in Sample 2 grew significantly higher than Sample 1 particularly when Nickel was present yet Lead diminished biomass levels in both cases. The research demonstrates substantial nickel bioremediation capabilities of Gram-negative bacteria collected from Eloor yet more study needs to be done to optimize their performance. The study demonstrates how bacterial bioremediation handles heavy metal pollution while stressing the need to understand microbial metal uptake processes better to create stronger remediation solutions.