Characterization of An Extracellular Bioflocculant Produced by Cobetia sp. OAUIFE Isolated from a Marine Sediment

ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Characterization of An Extracellular Bioflocculant Produced by Cobetia sp. OAUIFE Isolated from a Marine Sediment

Ugbenyen Anthony Moses, Mkwetshana Noxolo and Okoh Anthony Ifeanyi

Applied and Environmental Microbiology Research Group (AEMREG), Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa.

J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2012;6(4):1591-1598

Received: 28/06/2012 | Accepted: 06/08/2012 | Published: 31/12/2012

Abstract

The characteristics of a bioflocculant produced by Cobetia sp. OAUIFE isolated from sediment samples of Algoa Bay, South Africa was investigated. The acidic extracellular polysaccharide bioflocculant optimally flocculated kaolin suspension at a dose of 0.4 mg/ml, neutral pH of 7, and Ca²⁺ as a coagulant aid. The bioflocculant is thermostable, with a high residual flocculating activity of 72 % after heating at 100 ^oC for 30 min. Thermogravimetric property of the bioflocculant revealed only about 50 % loss of initial weight when heated at 500 ^oC. FTIR analysis of the compound bioflocculant indicated the presence of hydroxyl, carboxyl and methoxyl functional groups. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image revealed a crystal-linear spongy-like bioflocculant structure.

Keywords

Cobetia sp., Bioflocculant, Polysaccharide, Thermostable

Download PDF

Article Metrics

Article View: 563

JPAM.6.4.10 (200 downloads)

Share This Article

© The Author(s) 2012. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.