Rendiconti Lincei.

Scienze Fisiche e Naturali (2021) 32:257–272

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-021-00982-6

REVIEW

Microorganisms employed in the removal of contaminants

from wastewater of iron and steel industries
Sachin Kajla1 · Gurpreet Kaur Nagi1 · Ritu Kumari1

Received: 26 August 2020 / Accepted: 23 February 2021 / Published online: 5 March 2021
© Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 2021

Abstract
Iron and steel industries are one of the seven major energy-extensive manufacturing industries strengthening any nation’s eco-
nomic infrastructure. Processes involved in these industries generate a large number of contaminants, which cannot be directly
released into the environment. Proper treatment methods for the wastewater are very necessary from ecological standpoint and
economical concerns. Doing so naturally is also important to eliminate and reduce the amount of organic and inorganic wastes
and heavy metal pollutants to their standard limits. Thus, a number of studies encompassing employment of different micro-
organisms, natural as well as genetically modified, and their on-site or off-site applications, either as pure microbial strains or
as mixed microbial consortia have been conducted. This review aims to present the role of microorganisms that have been suc-
cessfully investigated for the removal of toxicities from the wastewater generated by the processes of iron and steel industries.
Graphical abstract

Keywords Bioremediation · Steel plant · Wastewater · Industrial effluents

Gurpreet Kaur Nagi and Ritu Kumari contributed equally to this

work.

* Sachin Kajla
sachin.kajla@tatasteel.com; skajla09@gmail.com
1
R&D and Scientific Services Department, Tata Steel
Limited, 831007, Jamshedpur, India

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1 Introduction
The overall quality of the environment and the quality of
the life on Earth are very intricately linked. Pollution in the
environment is increasing exponentially and has reached
a terrifying level mostly due to anthropological activi-
ties like urbanisation, perilous agricultural practices but
especially due to industrialization (Igwe and Abia 2006).
Every component of the environment has been affected
by pollution of air, soil and specifically water, which is a
precious component of the planet occupying about 71%
of its surface (Arjoon et al. 2013). Thirty-one countries
experience water stress between 25% (which is defined
as the minimum threshold) to 70% and another 22 are in
more severe condition, above the threshold of water stress
levels (WWAP 2019). Global growth and prompt indus-
trial development have directed to the recognition and
enhanced understanding of the inter-relationship between
pollution, public health and environment. About one-third
of the world water pollution is contributed by industrial
solid and perilous wastes (Lokhande et al. 2011).
Steel is manufactured as a result of the chemical reduc-
tion of iron ore, using an integrated steelmaking process.
From coarse and rocky iron ore to tough shiny steel, the
making of the alloy employs some major processes like coke
production, sinter production, iron making, steel making,
pickling, furnace blasting, electrolytic cleaning, alloying,
casting, rolling and shaping, cooling and finishing. Per day
steel production on an average use about 18,000 ­m3 of water
(Beh et al. 2012). During these processes, contaminants
like organics and heavy metals are released in the effluents.
Although industries follow the 4R and zero waste concept,
and sustainable production of steel is an important aspect
of it (Worrell and Reuter 2014), the industrial wastewater,
being a major source of water contamination, still needs
effective treatment before being discharged into the surface
water (Yong et al. 2014).
There are diverse pollutants like inorganic, organic, bio-
logical and radioactive, which contaminate water. The inor-
ganic contaminants include fluoride, arsenic, lead, copper,
chromium, mercury, antimony and cyanide (Agency 2006).
Toxic metal accumulation in humans has numerous conse-
quences such as growth and developmental anomalies, neu-
romuscular control defects, renal failure, mental impedance,
and carcinogenesis (Amin et al. 2013; Yong et al. 2014). The
organic pollutants are volatile organic chemicals, chlorinated
solvents and petroleum hydrocarbons (Kang 2014; Megharaj
et al. 2011) (Fig. 1). These effluents are also direct or indirect
causes of atmospheric pollution, dissolved oxygen depletion,
discolouring and increased turbidity, sludge deposits, and
algal and fungal growth leading to eutrophication.
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Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali (2021) 32:257–272
The major aim of treatment processes is the need for these
effluents to be dealt with, in a safe manner, and bring the
quality of water to the required environmental standards
before being released. There are various procedures for the
treatment of wastewater which includes chemical, physi-
cal and biological methods. Chemical treatment includes
precipitation, coagulation, activated carbon and alumina,
zeolite, silica gel, ion exchange, electrolysis and catalytic
processes (Al-Gheethi et al. 2018; Samer 2015; Sharma and
Bhattacharya 2017). Physical treatment comprises of pro-
cesses like magnetic separation, UV radiation, ultrasound,
ozone, reverse osmosis etc. (Babu et al. 2019; Sharma and
Bhattacharya 2017). Biological process includes the use of
microorganisms like bacteria, yeast, algae and fungi for the
treatment of wastewater (Fig. 1).
In the present review, the focus will be on the organisms,
which are used for the biological treatment of wastewater.
The enlisted microorganisms are in respect to the fact that
they are capable of utilizing different contaminants present
in the wastewater as nutrient and energy sources, either
individually or as a consortium. These microorganisms,
regardless of whether they are native or newly introduced
to the site, use different metabolic pathways to remove the
xenobiotic compounds. The alien compound is degraded by
introducing it into different metabolic pathways to form less
toxic or non-toxic unadorned components.
2 Bioremediation of wastewater
Bioremediation comprises of two fragments: “bios” mean-
ing life and refers to living organisms; “remediate” means
to resolve a problem. “Bioremediation” encompasses use
of living organisms to resolve an environmental problem
such as contamination of water and soil. In other words, it
is a technology for eliminating pollutants from the environ-
ment hence re-establishing the original natural surroundings
and thwarting further pollution (Sasikumar and Papinazath
2003). It can also be defined as a microorganism mediated
degradation or transformation of pollutants into less hazard-
ous or non-hazardous daughter compound(s).
Ex-situ bioremediation involves subsequent transport of
contaminants from their site of origin after their physical
excavation and is further of two types, slurry phase biore-
mediation and solid phase bioremediation. Similarly, in situ
bioremediation where the pollutants are treated without
much disturbance and disruption in their site of origin, is
of two types, namely, intrinsic in situ bioremediation and
engineered in situ bioremediation (Kaur et al. 2020).
The conventional chemical and physical methods are used
for the remediation of the pollutants. The physico-chemical
Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali (2021) 32:257–272
methods of wastewater treatment are inevitably cost inten-
sive and are not applicable for all industries. The economic
advantage of biological treatment over other treatment pro-
cesses, both in terms of capital investments and operation
costs, is quite obvious. Activated sludge mediated biological
treatment has been in practice for well over a century but the
increasing pressure to meet more stringent discharge stand-
ards of the effluents in the treatment process has now led
to advanced biological treatment system which has evolved
into efficient, low-cost waste treatment system (Amin et al.
2013; Mittal 2011).
3 Bacteria for bioremediation of wastewater
Bacteria have a broad spectrum of diversity; they promise
different economic processes for the development of valu-
able products. These organisms also have some important
destructive properties for toxic chemical compounds, which
further make them more special. Use of bacteria for reme-
diation of various wastes is a vital illustration of their eco-
nomic importance for the environment.
Heavy metals contaminate the water; they are highly toxic
and produce health risks (Idi et al. 2015).
Mercury is an enormously noxious pollutant that is
released mainly by low-level industrial sources. Steel
industry generates it during sintering and coal gas burn-
ing process (Wang et al. 2016). It is dispersed worldwide
through the atmosphere, from where it enters aquatic
organisms, accrues in fish and ultimately affects the
Fig. 1  Toxic effluents released from iron and steel industry and their various remediation methods
259
health of human populations. Smith et al. (1998) first time
reported the oxidation of mercury with hydroperoxidase-
catalase, of E. coli. Microbes like Vibrio fluvialis, Pseu-
domonas putida, Desulfovibrio desulfuricans; Aeromonas
hydrophila and Escherichia coli have mercury resistance
mer operon (Smith et al. 1998). The mer operon contains
different genes like merT, merP (Transport), merA (Mer-
cury reduction), merB (Cleavage of mercury from organic
residue), merR and merD (regulation), merC and merF
(Membrane proteins, conferring transport functions) and
merG (resistance to phenyl mercury) (Hamlett et al. 1992;
Mirzaei et al. 2008; Vetriani et al. 2005). The mer operon
depolluted mercury, based on intracellular reduction of
mercurous compound to non-toxic mercury, by the mer-
curic reductase enzyme and successive diffusional loss of
Hg from the cell (Barkay 2000; Smith et al. 1998; Sum-
mers and Silver 1972; Wagner-Döbler et al. 2000). Pseu-
domonas aeruginosa remediate Hg (II) more than 80%
as compared to control under the laboratory conditions
(pH 6, and temperature 35˚C) after the incubation of 72 h
(Kotwal et al. 2018). The mercury removal capacity of
Vibrio fluvialis was observed at different concentrations,
it remediated up to 60% at a concentration of 250 μg/ml
(Saranya et al. 2017). Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes
S1, marine bacterium is tolerant to 120 mg/L H ­ g2+ where
merT/merP is the vital factor mediating resistance to ­Hg2+
and accumulates upto 133.33 mg/g (Zhang et al. 2020).
Chromium, a heavy metal that exists in various forms,
divalent to hexavalent in nature, is mainly found in triva-
lent and hexavalent state. Hexavalent chromium is highly
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toxic and do not degrade readily (Kotaś and Stasicka 2000).
Chromium, used in stainless steel production, is remedi-
ated using bacteria like Staphylococcus capitis, Acineto-
bacter (Suresh et al. 2004), Desulfovibrio vulgaris, Cellu-
lomonas spp. (Campos et al. 2005; Elangovan et al. 2006;
Francisco et al. 2002; Goulhen et al. 2006; Megharaj et al.
2003; Rajkumar et al. 2005; Viamajala et al. 2007; Zahoor
and Rehman 2009). Reduction of Cr (VI) upto 80% was
observed by the bacterial strain Pseudomonas entomophila
MA14 at pH 14 and 35 °C significantly showing decrement
of 100 µg Cr (VI) to Cr (III) state per mililitre. Studies report
that Cr (VI) degradation also depends on factors such as pH
variations, temperature, and different concentrations of Cr
(VI) (Wani et al. 2019). Halomonas BVR1 strain obtained
from electronic effluents has shown accelerated remediation
of heavy metals like lead, chromium, cadmium and zinc.
It was reported that this strain exhibited various minimum
inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for different heavy
metals like chromium (150 mg L ­ −1), lead (400 mg L ­ −1),
−1 −1
zinc (250 mg ­L ) and cadmium (200 mg ­L ) (Rajesh and
Rajesh 2016). Bacillus subtilis, a Gram-positive alkaliphilic
bacteria extracted from effluent metal contaminated soil was
reported to grow and remediate Cr (VI) upto 100% at pH
9 (Mangaiyarkarasi et al. 2011). Bacterial reduction of Cr
(VI) to Cr (III) was also reported in Methanothermobacter
thermoautotrophicus, further resulting in immobilization of
Cr into hydroxide/oxide forms (Singh et al. 2015). Sporo-
sarcina saromensis M52 bacterial strain, showed efficient
degradation and strong tolerance to higher levels of Cr (VI),
highlighting its importance in metal acquisition (Ran et al.
2016). Metal contamination of soil and water with Cr (VI)
was also decreased by Pannonibacter phragmitetus BB sp.
known for reduction of Cr (VI) in chromite ore (Wang et al.
2014, 2013; Wani and Ayoola 2015). Isolation of Bacillus
methylotrophicus from waste showed immense results for
chromate removal upto 91.3% in 48 h by chromate reductase
activity (Mala et al. 2015). Other species which are known
for effective Cr (VI) remediation include Pseudomonas
sp., Brevibacillus brevis, Microbacterium, Ochrobactrum
intermedium, Micrococcus etc. under optimized laboratory
conditions (Wani et al. 2016). Recent study reported that
Microbacterium testaceum B-HS2 strain from wastewater
displayed efficient resistance towards ­Cr6+ toxicity at opti-
mum growth conditions and was useful for C ­ r6+ reduction
upto 96%. M. testaceum B-HS2 also showed significant tol-
erance to ­Cr6+ upto 48 mM and other heavy metals around
2 mM ­(As2+, ­Zn2+, ­Cu2+), 7 mM (­ Pb2+) and 1 mM (­ Cd2+,
­Ni2+) (Elahi et al. 2019).
Arsenic as a toxic heavy metal contaminates water
produced from metal smelters and the problem of arsenic
contamination is global. It has complex adverse effects on
the human health (Liu et al. 2009; Mittal 2011; Tchoun-
wou et al. 2012). Certain variety of bacteria is known to
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be tolerant to arsenic and can be utilized for its sequestra-
tion. Different strains of Aeromonas, Exiguobacterium,
Acinetobacter, Bacillus and Pseudomonas are resistant to
arsenic and are utilized for its elimination from the contami-
nated water (Anderson and Cook 2004; Dopson et al. 2001;
Niggemyer et al. 2001; Suresh et al. 2004; Vicente et al.
1990; Zahoor and Rehman 2009). Genetic modifications of
Pseudomonas putida reported by Chen et al. resulted in a
transformed strain that showed volatilization of arsenic into
lesser toxic forms. Gram-positive and Gram-negative bac-
teria, both, have arsenic resistance under the control of ars
operon (Chen et al. 2013). A lot of studies aim at isolation of
arsenic removing strains from different sources. Taran et al.
reported three such strains, isolated from garbage leachates,
of genus Bacillus. They were characterized as KL1 which
could bioremediate up to 77% of 150 ppm arsenic concen-
tration at pH 5 and 40ºC after 24 h. KL6 achieved removal
of 88% after 36 h at 90 ppm concentrations optimized at pH
5 and 35 ºC and Bacillus sp. KL4 showed maximum arse-
nic bioremediation of 91.66% at 60 ppm concentration and
same parameters as KL1 (Taran et al. 2019). Studies report
that FeOOH nano particles obtained from bacterial strain
Klebsiella oxytoca BAS-10, was very efficient in remov-
ing higher levels of arsenic from drinking water (Fazi et al.
2016). From an area where soil is contaminated with heavy
metal, a microbial strain belonging to Stenotrophomonas sp.
was identified as strain MM-7 with capabilities to oxidize
arsenic with a decrease of nearly 31%, 46% and 64% over
control with 20, 30 and 50 mM of arsenic concentration after
48 h of incubation at pH 7 and 25ºC (Bahar et al. 2012). Cor-
neybacterium vitaromen with arsenic removal potential of
around 77%, Bacillus macerans of 86% and Bacillus megate-
rium of 96% were isolated and identified from contaminated
groundwater and soil area, in a study analysing the minimum
inhibitory concentration (MIC) of bacteria for bioremedia-
tion of arsenic (Tyagi et al. 2018).
Copper is used in steel industry to make it corrosion
resistant. It is contributed to the environment by the various
industries through the untreated effluents (Bi et al. 2006;
Handa and Jadhav 2017). Handa and Jadhav (2017) reported
Staphylococcus sp. is able to considerably eliminate copper
from water. Pseudomonas syringae is able produce proteins
(Cop A, Cop B, and Cop C) which bind and help in remedia-
tion of copper (Cha and Cooksey 1991). Kumar et al. (2016)
testified that Stenotrophomonas sp. is also able to remediate
copper from the solution. A batch system of immobilized
Desulfovibrio desulfuricans was used to remove copper up
to 98% from wastewater; bacterial consortia also signifi-
cantly removed copper from the contaminated water (Gawali
Ashruta et al. 2014; Kim et al. 2015; Kumar et al. 2016).
Chatterjee et al. has reported bio sorption of copper and
other heavy metals by Geobacillus thermodenitrificans from
wastewater (Chatterjee et al. 2010). Stenotrophomonas sp.
Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali (2021) 32:257–272
PD2 obtained from soil reported significant degradation of
copper present in waste water upto 200 mg L ­ −1 Cu (II) (Gho-
sha and Sahab 2010). It was reported that bacterial species
such as Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Acidithiobacillus
thiooxidans, Acidithiobacillus caldus, Leptospirillum fer-
rooxidans and Sulfobacillus thermotolerans isolated from
slag waste of Cu smelting industry undergo metal bioleach-
ing process resulting in 62% Cu solubilization (Viera et al.
2007). Acinetobacter sp. IrC1 and Cupriavidus sp. IrC4
showed potential results in sequestration and accumulation
of copper resulting in 33% biosorption and 3.49 mg ­g−1 dry
weight of cells when grown in 3 mM C ­ uSO4 supplemented
media (Irawati et al. 2018).
Lead is a potential harmful pollutant produced from metal
plating and finishing in iron and steel industries (Kalita and
Joshi 2017). Lead accumulates in living organisms and has
adverse impacts on human health viz. impaired develop-
ment, reduced intelligence, debilities in learning, short-
term memory loss, cardiovascular, hepatic, kidney, bone
and coordination problems (Mason et al. 2014; Singh and
Sharma 2019). Kalita and Joshi (2017) isolated metallophilic
bacterial strain from extreme environment and found them
capable to remediate lead from wastewater. De et al. (2008)
reported elimination of lead with Brevibacterium iodinium
and Bacillus pumilus more than 87% and 88% from wastewa-
ter, respectively (De et al. 2008). Marzan et al. (2017) found
that Gemella sp. and Micrococcus sp. remove 55% and 37%
of lead from wastewater (Marzan et al. 2017). Consortia of
Viridibacillus arenosi B-21, Sporosarcina soli B-22, Entero-
bacter cloacae KJ-46, and E. cloacae KJ-47 was able to
significantly eliminate lead from wastewater (Meignanalak-
shmi et al. 2018). Studies report that Bacillus cereus RPb5-
3, biofilm-forming bacteria can be used as a bioaccumulator
for lead reduction as it can concentrate upto 54.54% of lead
(Utami et al. 2020). Micrococcus luteus was employed to
remove huge amount of lead from a synthetic medium and
its reducing ability of 1965 mg/g was observed under ideal
conditions (Puyen et al. 2012). It was reported that Bacillus
megaterium exhibited intracellular cytoplasmic lead bioac-
cumulation whereas Pseudomonas marginalis demonstrated
lead removal extracellularly. Staphylococcus aureus and Cit-
robacter freundii are also known to concentrate lead as lead
phosphate intracellularly (Rehan and Alsohim 2019).
In excess, fluoride is a toxic element when emitted dur-
ing the steel manufacturing process and has adverse effect
on protoplasmic contents of the cell and impairs the bio-
chemical reactions (Annadurai et al. 2014). Acinetobacter
sp. RH5 was found capable of defluorination of the water
(Mukherjee et al. 2017; Semrau 1957). In 2017, fluoride
contaminated water was remediated via Providencia vermi-
cola (KX926492) bacterium, a maximum of 82% removal
was achieved in optimized conditions (Mukherjee et al.
2017). Bacterial cellulose also has potential to remove
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fluoride from water. Acetobacter aceti, Glucanobacter ceri-
nus, Acetobacter okinawensis, Bacillus megaterium and
Bacillus aryabhattai were used to produce cellulose which
was found to have similar properties as commercial cellulose
after analysis. This bacterial cellulose was able to reduce
the fluoride from water (Mugesh et al. 2016). Studies report
that Pseudomonas sp. strain D2 was able to degrade dif-
luoromethane sulphonate, perfluoro-octanesulphonate and
trifluoromethane sulphonate (Zhuo et al. 2014). Enzyme
fluoroacetate dehalogenase found in Pseudomonas sp. is
responsible for defluorination of fluoroacetate. Other spe-
cies such as Burkholderia sp. FA1, Fusarium solani, Morax-
ella sp. B, Pseudomonas fluorescens DSM8341 and a soil
Pseudomonas sp. were also used to extract fluoroacetate
dehalogenase (Leong et al. 2017). It was reported that two
bacterial strains of Bacillus sp. (KT201599 and KT201600)
isolated from midgut of Drosophila melanogaster showed
tolerance to fluoride and survived at 2000–2500 g/mL of
sodium fluoride concentrations (Dutta et al. 2020). Stud-
ies reported that Bacillus flexus PN4 is an important strain
for fluoride bioremediation in an aqueous medium and it
exhibited higher levels of tolerance to fluoride ranging from
500 to 2500 ppm under different environmental conditions
(Sakthi Thesai et al. 2020).
Antimony (Sb) is a chalcophilic element exists in Sb (III)
and Sb (IV) form in aqueous environment. It is released dur-
ing smelting process and is also found in iron rich slags
produced during steel manufacturing (Li et al. 2016). Sb
(III) is considered highly carcinogenic; it also causes dam-
age to the liver, lungs and cardiovascular system (Deng
et al. 2007; Johnson et al. 2005; Ning and Xiao 2007). The
mechanism for uptake of Sb (V) is different from that of Sb
(III), the former remaining unknown. For Sb (III) uptake
in prokaryotes, two different transporter families have been
found responsible, where ArsB protein belongs to the ion
transporter superfamily and the working operon is ars
operon. The ars operon confers both antimony and arsenic
resistance (Butcher et al. 2000), arsRBC is the three gene
operon found in Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylo-
coccus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Butcher et al.
2000). The sulphate-reducing bacteria Clostridium sp. was
found to be effective for the removal of antimony from the
wastewater (Zhang et al. 2016). Sulphate-reducing bacteria
like Escherichia coli and Clostridium are capable of anti-
mony bioremediation (Zhang et al. 2017). Among numerous
strains belonging to 17 different genera with Sb(III)-oxidiz-
ing capability, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Agrobacterium
and Comamonas make up to the four major with each of 22,
7, 8 and 10 strains forming 34, 11, 12 and 15% of all the
known strains, respectively (Xi et al. 2020).
Carl Wilhelm Scheele first discovered cyanide as prus-
sic acid; toxic to the living organisms as it inhibits the
cytochrome C oxidase in the electron transport chain and
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other metalloenzyme. Cyanide has an affinity with metals,
which make it useful for use in steel, mining and electro-
plating industries. These industries release cyanide in blast
furnace slag during steel making which contaminate water
and soil (Ding et al. 2020; Jaszczak et al. 2017). Many
plants, animals and bacteria for their defence produce cya-
nide naturally; they have developed different mechanisms
for detoxification of the cyanide as well (Van Ohlen et al.
2017). These organisms are thus applied for the remedia-
tion of cyanide from the contaminated water. Several bacte-
ria like Rhodopseudomonas gelatinosa, Klebsiella oxytoca
degrade cyanide by means of their nitrogenase enzyme (Kao
et al. 2003; Materassi and Balloni 1977). Use of reduction,
a not so common pathway for cyanide-degrading microor-
ganisms, has been observed in Klebsiella oxytoca to convert
cyanide by the activity of nitrogenase enzyme to ammonia
and methane (Kao et al. 2003). Pseudomonas fluorescens
NCIMB 11764 oxidised cyanide via monooxygenase (com-
prises different components like NADH oxidase, NADH
peroxidase, cyanide di-hydratase, and carbonic anhydrase)
into formate and ammonia (Fernandez and Kunz 2005).
Jandhyala et al. (2005) reported that Bacillus pumilus,
Pseudomonas stutzeri, and Alcaligenes xylosoxidans subsp.
Cyanidase (CynD) also convert cyanide into formate and
ammonia. Cyanidase enzymes do not require any cofactor;
with this virtue these enzymes show the potential to be used
in industries for cyanide remediation (Keusgen et al. 2004).
Chromobacterium violaceum, Bacillus megaterium, and Cit-
robacter freundii contains β-Cyanoalanine synthase which
alters cyanide along with cysteine into β-Cyanoalanine and
hydrogen sulphide (Howden et al. 2009; Michaels and Corpe
1965; Porter and Knowles 1979; Rodgers and Knowles
1978). Rhodanese, also known as thiosulfate/cyanide-sul-
phur transferase enzyme convert cyanide to non-toxic com-
pound thiocyanate and sulphite. It is reported to be found
in Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Cipol-
lone et al. 2008, 2007). A number of microbial species like
Pseudomonas fluorscences, Escherichia coli and Bacillus
pumillus have been reported to use the oxidative pathway,
utilizing cyanides as nitrogen source and convert it to ammo-
nia and carbon dioxide (Dash et al. 2009). Pseudomonas
stuzeri isolated from the soil of cassava mill, Halomonas
sp. from gold mine tailings, Bacillus spp. CN-22 from elec-
troplating wastewater and Bacillus sp. isolated from cassava
processing effluent are efficient in degrading pure KCN by
72, 75, 96.69 and 98%, respectively (Akcil 2003; Khamar
et al. 2015; Nelson 2006; Sankaranarayanan and Gowthami
2015). A strain from Citrobacter sp. isolated from electro-
plating wastewater has reported decrease in copper cyanide
from 44.8 ppm initial levels to 4.5 ppm residual, showcas-
ing a degradation efficiency of 99.9% (Cosmos et al. 2020;
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Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali (2021) 32:257–272
Patil and Paknikar 2000). Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes
from gold mine tailings and Pseudomonas sp. from histori-
cal sludge reduced pure NaCN with a degradation efficiency
of 60 and 98%, respectively (Cosmos et al. 2020; Tiong
et al. 2015). Investigations revealed that Serratia marces-
cens strain AQ07 was capable in degrading cyanide up to
95.6% from 200 mg/L potassium cyanide. Further, studies
also reported that this strain exhibited efficient role in toler-
ating KCN up to 700 mg/L with increased concentrations of
cyanide levels (Karamba et al. 2016).
Hydrocarbon waste contaminate environment, these are
responsible for acidic or basic pH, high or low temperature,
high salt concentration or pressure (Kao et al. 2003; Mar-
gesin and Schinner 2001). Hydrocarbon utilization in pro-
cesses like rolling wire is prevalent in steel industries. The
first instance of hydrocarbon bioremediation came from
the oil spillage treatment with the Pseudomonas by Anand
Mohan Chakrabarty (Chakrabarty and Friello 1974). Pseu-
domonas putida F1 has excellent capability to efficiently
mineralize toluene, phenol and benzene (Abuhamed 2004).
Studies have also reported that Acinetobacter (Acinetobac-
ter sp. Strain AQ5NOL1) play potential role in degradation
of phenol via meta-pathway. In addition, phenol degrada-
tion efficiency up to 1100 and 1900 mg L ̄1 was observed
by cells of Acinetobacter AQ5NOL1 (Ahmad et al. 2017).
Hydrocarbon contaminated water is treated with differ-
ent strains of Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas, Aeromonas,
Alcaligenes, Acinetobacter, Arthobacter, Brevibacterium,
Xanthomonas, Mycobacterium, Rhodococcus and Bacillus
species (Płaza et al. 2008). It is also a very renowned fact
that bacteria in consortium perform more efficiently as
compared to independent bacterium for the remediation
of the hydrocarbons (Ahmad et al. 2012; Liu et al. 2009).
Acinetobacter strains have been explored for degradation
of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) like atrazine (Cai
et al. 2003). Among the obligate hydrocarbonoclastic bac-
teria, a few namely Cycloclasticus, Marinobacter, Thallas-
solituus, Oleispira and Alcanicorax play a key role as most
representative genera in hydrocarbon degradation (Mah-
joubi et al. 2018). Bioaugmentation studies on organisms
isolated from oily wastewater have also been conducted.
One such study by Majumdar et al. in 2020 showed the
bioaugmentation capability of Rhodococcus pyridini-
vorans F5 strain that could tolerate up to 8% hydrocarbon
concentrations (v/v) and showed 79 (± 0.03) % as maxi-
mum percentage degradation at 37ºC and neutral pH. The
degradation further escalated to 95 (± 0.02) % in pres-
ence of activated carbon used as a doped agent (Mazum-
der et al. 2020). Bacterial strains isolated from polluted
stream showed abilities to degrade crude oil. These strains
included Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Flavobacterium sp.,
Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali (2021) 32:257–272
Pseudomonas fluorescens, Corynebacterium sp., Bacil-
lus subtilis, Alcaligenes sp., Bacillus sp. and Micrococcus
roseus.
Utilizing wastewater from oilfield as a nutrient source,
soil microbes showed significant decrease in nitrate
and phosphate concentrations over a period of 28 days
(Owhonka and Obire 2019). A study by Sun et al. in 2019
reported an organism isolated from the coking wastewater
for in situ bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocar-
bons (PAHs). The strain was identified as Pseudomonas aer-
uginosa S5 that showed high surface activity at a pH range
of 3.5–9.5 and 0–15% salinity conditions with 96.5 mg/L
critical micelle concentration (CMC). The surface tension
was observed to reduce from 72.7 to 29.6 mN/m (Sun et al.
2019).
The industry uses a huge amount of water for its prepa-
ration procedure and produces a large quantity of waste-
water, which features with high biological oxygen demand
(BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic car-
bon (TOC) and total dissolves solids (TDS) (Griffiths 1984;
Rakmi 1993). Some bacterial species like Bacillus thuring-
iensis, Bacillus cereus, Brevibacillus sp. were found efficient
in reducing the biological oxygen demand (BOD) and E.
coli and Bacillus thuringiensis decreased the total suspended
solids (TSS) from the wastewater (Płaza et al. 2008). Psy-
chrophilic bacteria like Arthrobacter psychrolactophilus
were observed to have remarkable ability for remediation of
organic wastes from water (Gratia et al. 2009).
Chlorinated compounds are lethal and contaminate water
and soil at hazardous waste sites. These compounds are
like the petroleum hydrocarbons having chlorine atom in
construction. There is serious impact on human health, as
they cause nervous system damage, cognitive impairment
and abnormalities in sleep cycle, oncogenic, bradycardia
arrhythmia (Bale et al. 2011; Oshiro et al. 2008; Sudheesh
2018; Winneke 1981). The lab scale co-metabolization of
chlorinated compounds was carried out by Pseudomonas
putida, but field implementation was not possible due to a lot
of interferences (Ryoo et al. 2000). Microorganisms belong-
ing to genus Dehalococcoides were found to be capable of
degrading the chlorinated compounds (Maymo-Gatell 1997).
Pöritz et al. (2013) observed that two Dehalococcoides
mccartyi strains were able to combine reductive dehalogen-
ation steps of per chloroethane to ethene, to grow (Pöritz
et al. 2013). The genome of Dehalococcoides mccartyi strain
BTF08 encodes twenty dehalogenases, which are necessary
for the coupling of the chlorinated compounds. Oxidation
of trichloroethylene was reported with expression of toluene
dioxygenase by Pseudomonas putida F1 (Tas 2009; Wackett
and Gibson 1988).
263
4 Yeast for bioremediation of wastewater
Yeast, a eukaryotic microorganism which is widely dis-
tributed; having high metabolic efficiency and fast growth
rate, has attracted much attention in the past few years to
be employed for bioremediation processes. As the research
continued, it showed great potential and thus new tech-
nologies emerged which had yeast being widely applied
as the core for wastewater treatment in the industries and
purification of the domestic sewage water (Westlund and
Yargeau 2017). Yeast has good settling and dewatering
properties because of their larger size as compared to bac-
teria. Since, yeast can physically intertwine their mycelia
or pseudo mycelia to form floes, they help with the coagu-
lation and flocculation process, which otherwise in a con-
ventional activated sludge process requires involvement of
biopolymers. Yeast also contains proteins and vitamins,
which all can prove to be an attractive additive to animal
feed (Kazmi 2003). Studies have shown that yeast has been
found efficient in degrading macromolecules like phenol
(Song et al. 2013) and glyceride (Han et al. 2005) and has
the ability to produce lipids (Chung et al. 2016), glycolip-
ids and enzymes (Yang et al. 2013). Thus, its use in the
treatment of wastewater with organic waste concentration,
heavy metal ions and domestic sewage (Wang et al. 2017).
Mycoremediation and mycofiltration have been part of the
bioremediation process for a long time now. Extracellular
enzymes and acids secreted by the mycelium helps break-
ing down of many targeted pollutants. Aureobasidium pul-
lulans, Cladosporium resinae, Penicillium spp., Aspergil-
lus niger, Ganoderma lucidum, Funalia trogii, Trametes
versicolor are the reported species capable of recovering
heavy metals (Loukidou et al. 2003; Say et al. 2003).
Aspergillus versicolor’s potential for bioaccumulation of
heavy metals was studied and found to be maximum at
pH 5 for Cu (II) ions and at pH 6 for Cr (VI) and Ni (II)
for optimal 50 ppm concentrations with 29.06, 99.89 and
30.05% removal yield, respectively. This particular species
attracted a lot of attention evolving as a potential bioac-
cumulator of chromium ions (Taştan et al. 2010).
The removal of heavy metal ions by yeast can be car-
ried out on cell surface and in living cells. The mecha-
nism is complex, mainly including passive adsorption and
active adsorption. It was investigated that the effects of
adsorption time, temperature, pH and ­Cr6+ concentration
on the adsorption of C ­ r6+ by beer yeast at the maximum
adsorption rate of 94.71% (Yang et al. 2013). He et al.
(2007) studied the mechanism of enrichment of ­Cr6+ in
wastewater by yeasts. The process of adsorption of ­Cr6+
by yeasts was accompanied by the release of K ­ +, ­Mg2+,
13
264
­Na+, ­Ca2+ and other cations. The ion transport in and out
of cells reached balance in 30 min, and the adsorption of
­Cr6+ approached saturation, which indicated that there was
ion exchange between the cations and C ­ r6+ ions (He et al.
­ u2+
2007). Han et al. used beer yeast for the adsorption of C
2+
and ­Pb from wastewater. The experimental results were
fit well to the Langmuir and Freundlich model isotherms
and the maximum adsorptive quantity of beer yeast were
0.0228 mmol ­g−1 for ­Cu2+ and 0.0276 mmol ­g−1 for ­Pb2+
according to Langmuir model. In addition to the above
heavy metal ions, yeast has a good adsorption effect on
mercury, strontium and arsenic ions as well as radioac-
tive uranium (Han et al. 2006). Recently developed lipid
accumulating yeast consortia termed as OYC-Y.BC.SH
is a promising candidate for valorization of agricultural
effluents, remediation of toxic textile dyes/wastes as well
as generation of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME). The
oleaginous OYC-Y.BC.SH strain constructed from three
different yeast cultures Yarrowia sp. SSA1642, Barnet-
tozyma californica SSA1518 and Sterigmatomyces halo-
philus showed higher yields of biofuel production when
compared to a particular culture (Ali et al. 2020). Studies
report that significant removal of toxic chemicals from caf-
eteria wastewater was facilitated by Microalgal Microbial
Fuel Cell (MMFC) employing Saccharomyces cerevisiae
and Spirulina platensis. The MMFC approach for elimina-
tion of cafeteria effluents led to reduction of COD to upto
60% and TDS upto 82.83% along with microalgae biomass
generation (Christwardana et al. 2020).
5 Algae for bioremediation of wastewater
Algae are photosynthetic organisms generally possessing
a single cell with no stems, roots or leaves but primarily
release oxygen. These microalgae have the capability to
survive in almost any habitat with the availability of the
required nutrients, so they are present almost everywhere
(Zhou 2014). These microalgae have enormous biodiversity
and it has been estimated that only 35,000 out of 200,000 to
800,000 existing species, have been identified with descrip-
tion (Tabatabaei et al. 2011). These algae are primary pro-
ducers and have trophic value for both man and animal as
consumers in the aquatic systems. Gotaas and Oswald were
the first to introduce the concept of algae utilization in water
treatment in 1955 with their paper titled “Photosynthesis
in sewage treatment”. This gave direction to the extensive
research in this field since 1957 with the technologies that
are evolving constantly. The effectiveness of algal waste-
water treatment systems is very similar to the conventional
methods of treatments and thus helped in gaining wide
acceptance (Oswald and Gotaas 1957).
13
Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali (2021) 32:257–272
Efficiency of microalgae for removal of nutrients from
wastewater of different sources is usually high. These algae
can utilise the nutrients they take up for their metabolic pro-
cesses. Thus, the pressure to develop a novel, sustainable,
efficient and cost-effective innovative method using micro-
algae for the removal of contaminants from water bodies
and wastewater is tremendous. Studies have been conducted
on microalgae as new adsorbents for heavy metals. Rasoul-
Amini et al. in 2014 used microalgal free cells in batch
culture system and showed the reduction of nitrogen in the
wastewater up to 84%. A lot of study has been done about
the nutrient removal capacities of microalgae, especially
nitrogen and phosphorus. The most widely used cultures for
removal of nutrients are species of Chlorella, Scenedesmus,
Spirullina and Nannochloropsis (Rasoul-Amini et al. 2014).
Investigation for nutrient removal capacity of cyanobacte-
rium Phormidium boneri has also been made. The feasibility
of different species of genus Chlorella varied from 80 to
100% for nitrogen removal and 83.2 to 92% for phosphorus
removal in several studies. These organisms are also capable
of utilizing thiocyanates, phenols and ammonia as carbon
and nitrogen sources (Abdel-Raouf et al. 2012; Delgadillo-
Mirquez et al. 2016; Jia and Yuan 2016).
Using molecular oxygen as an oxidizing agent, the micro-
organisms present as BOD in the wastewater oxidize organic
material to ­CO2 and water. BOD depletes the dissolved oxy-
gen of the water leading to rise in population of anaerobic
life forms via anaerobiosis and causing fish kills. Thus, the
removal of BOD is of utmost importance. Wood et al. in
1988 using filamentous algae and an artificial wetland, com-
bined as a high rate algal pond, reported a relatively low
efficiency in the range of 59.2 and 79.4% for removal of
COD (Wood et al. 1988). Hammouda et al.in 1995 reported
that C. vulgaris and Scenedesmus sp., when used in batch
system, lead to 84 and 89% removal of BOD and COD
from industrial wastewater, respectively (Hammouda et al.
1995). Incubating C.vulgaris at 30 °C for 48 h, Rana (2010)
reported 89% BOD and 88% COD reductions in wastewa-
ter from feed factory (Rana 2010). Algal species such as
Chlorella vulgaris and Chlorella salina were reported as
prospective candidates for removal of toxic contaminants
such as zinc, copper, cobalt, cadmium, chromium, lead etc.
Further, reduction in toxicity levels of physico-chemical
parameters (pH, total dissolved solids, BOD, COD etc.) were
also observed using these two species in mixed water sam-
ples consisting of sea, sewage and well. Both these species
showed potential role in removal of minerals (Mg, Na, K,
Ca etc.) as well as nutrients (nitrates, ammonia, phosphates)
from water samples (El-Sheekh et al. 2016). Bioremediation
targeted at phenol removal from coke-oven wastewater was
effectively seen by a cyanobacterial strain, Leptolyngbya sp.,
which showed 98.5 ± 0.14% removal at pH 11, where the
Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali (2021) 32:257–272
initial phenol concentration was 100 mg/L (Thakurta et al.
2018).
Many natural and anthropogenic sources are responsible
for the release of heavy metals into the environment. They
are highly toxic, leading to destruction of self-purification
ability of an aquatic body and their concentrations have
been bound to increase year after year. Algae are a renew-
able biomass occurring naturally; they can embed the heavy
metal ions in the cell vacuole in the form of organic metallic
complexes formed when the heavy metal ions react with
peptides. These complexes can bind cadmium ­(Cd2+), Sil-
ver ­(Ag+), Lead ­(Pb2+), Mercury ­(Hg2+) and Gold ­(Au2+).
Studies on sorption properties of Spirogyra species of algae
showed that they decrease the zinc ion concentration by
90–95% in the initial 30 min. Some species from the genus
Chlorella have the ability to absorb uranium and lead ions.
Recent reports include many examples of metal adsorp-
tion by algal biomass. Pavasant et al. in 2006 reported the
biosorption of copper, cadmium, lead and zinc using dried
marine green microalga Caulerpa lentilifera (Pavasant et al.
2006). Degradation of fluoride with maximum reduction
up to 66.6 ± 0.11% was observed in synthetic waste water
collected from coke-oven effluent treatment plant with the
help of Starria zimbabweensis, cyanobacterial strain (Biswas
et al. 2018). Metal electroplating and production of steel and
alloys generate chromium compounds. Chromium can have
oxidation states ranging from + 2 to + 6, trivalent and hexa-
valent chromium being the two most common and stable
states. Out of the several mechanisms that microalgal cells
can use for the removal of Cr (VI) which is more toxic and
highly permeable, chromium bioremediation by Phaeodac-
tylum tricornutum and Navicula pelliculosa by biosorption
on the extracellular polymeric substances has been reported
as a major mechanism (Hedayatkhah et al. 2018). Removal
of toxic chromium from wastewater using Ulva lactuca and
sorption and desorption of lead (II) from wastewater by
Cladophora fascicularis was reported (Deng et al. 2007;
El-Sikaily et al. 2007). In 2015, Yang et al., observed bioac-
cumulation of copper and zinc by oleaginous microalgae
Chlorella minutissima. Spirulina species have been suc-
cessfully used for adsorption of chromium ions (Yang et al.
2015).
Massive environmental concerns all over the world are
caused by acid mine drainage. This causes huge damage
to the surrounding as it is acidic and contains high levels
of heavy metals. Strains of algae like Oscillatoria, Scened-
esmus, Anabaena, Chlorella, Phaeodactylum tricornutum,
Spirulina sp., are studied for having capacities of being
“hyper-accumulators” for removal of considerable amounts
of heavy metals from acid mine drainage with selectivity for
different elements (Bwapwa et al. 2017). A study focused
on phycoremediation of wastewater by Chlorella vulgaris
for 21 days. This microalga showed removal of phosphates
265
which started from 91.73% at day 6 and went above 99% by
day 21. A 100% removal, i.e., complete reduction of nitrates
and chromium was observed at day 6 and 12, respectively.
Sulphate concentrations showed a decrease of 67.4% by
day 21. BOD and COD were also monitored for the culture
where reduction percentage was 95.93 and 94.74%, respec-
tively, after 21 days (Das et al. 2017).
6 Fungi for bioremediation of wastewater
Fungi are eukaryotic organisms varying in shape and size.
They can be saprophytic or parasitic. They are absorptive
heterotrophs as they can secrete digestive enzymes onto the
substrates leading to break down of organics and making
them easily accessible for absorption as molecules. These
fungi have hyphae with large surface areas and small vol-
umes that enhance their absorptive capacity (Van Leeuwen
and Brown 2012). The utilization of fungal cells in biotech-
nology for the production of antibiotics, enzymes, alcohol,
industrial acids and food products is widely known. These
fungi are also employed for bioremediation of metal con-
taminated wastewater and when there is a need to remove
eutrophication agents (Akhtar and Ghaffar 1986; Akthar
and Mohan 1995; Bosshard et al. 1996; Thanh and Simard
1973). However, filamentous fungi are widely used when
it comes to industrial processes of bioremediation and fer-
mentation and are preferred over other organisms for biore-
mediation because their removal from liquid substrates is
easier (Mullen et al. 1992). A. niger are also employed to
reduce As (V) and As (III) (Damodaran et al. 2011). Cr (VI)
was converted to Cr (III) by dead biomass of fungal species
such as Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus oryzae, Saccharomy-
ces cerevisiae, Penicillium chrysogenum etc. (Park et al.
2005). Studies report that Candida sphaerica was capable
in reducing toxic contaminants like Fe (95%), Zn (90%) and
Pb (79%) (Luna et al. 2016). Coprinopsis atramentaria was
able to concentrate ­Pb2+ upto 94.7% and ­Cd2+ around 76%
at different concentrations, respectively (Lakkireddy and
Kües 2017). Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been reported to
sequester 65–75% of lead and cadmium present in polluted
soil (Pokhrel and Viraraghavan 2006). The most prevalent
fungal species were identified from municipal wastewater,
industrial effluents and polluted agricultural soil which
comprised of Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Asper-
gillus fumigates, Penicillium and Fusarium; showed effec-
tive removal of heavy metals like Zn, Pb, Cd, Ni and Cr in
wastewater (Iram et al. 2009, 2013). Other fungal microor-
ganisms like Curvularia, Acrimonium and Pithyum were tol-
erant against Cd, Ni and Cu in polluted soils and industrial
contaminants (Akhtar et al. 2013). Studies report that seven
different fungal strains (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fla-
vus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus
13
266
heteromorphus, Aspergillus foetidus and Aspergillus viridi-
nutans) isolated from tannery effluents were tested against
different pH, fungal biomass and dilution ratio to treat
wastewater which resulted in reduction of Cr (VI) between
310 to 680 mg/L (Sivakumar 2016). Phlebia acerina, wood
decaying fungi was reported to show maximum removal of
dyes such as Congo Red (92.4%) and Eriochrome Black T
(50%), thus indicating its potential role in eliminating heavy
metals from wastewater (Kumar et al. 2018). A recent report
suggests that Spent Mushroom Substrate (SMS) of Agaricus
bisporus has a promising role in removal of toxic metals
from industrial effluents including chromium, cobalt, nickel,
iron, lead, copper, manganese, zinc, aluminium etc. It was
observed that at high alkaline pH range (upto 13) lead and
chromium get degraded; however, at pH 7 other heavy met-
als like Fe (III), Fe (II), Ni, Cu, Zn and Al showed maximum
reduction rates (Corral-Bobadilla et al. 2019). Fungal spe-
cies like Cladosporeum perangustum, Penicillium commune,
Paecilomyces lilacinus, and Fusarium equiseti isolated from
tannery waste water and sludge displayed higher potential in
biodegradation of toxic contaminants. The total elimination
amount after 120 h of fungal treatment for COD, Cr (VI),
total Cr, Pb (II), total Pb, N ­ a+, ­Ca2+, ­Cl− and N
­ O3− were
recorded as 82.52, 100, 99.2, 100, 95.91, 17.83, 43.15, 9.94
and 35% reduction, respectively (Sharma and Malaviya
2016). Studies report that Trametes pubescens was able to
reduce various recalcitrant elements and dyes like Remazol
Brilliant Blue Reactive Dye suggesting its significant role
in treating coloured contaminants in polluted water (Bulai
et al. 2016). Aspergillus flavus CR500, multimetal resistant
fungal strain was capable in degrading toxic metals like As,
Ni, Mn, Pb, Cu and Cd upto 2000, 1600, 1200, 800, 200
and 100 mg/L, respectively, along with increasing yields of
biomass production (Kumar and Dwivedi 2020). Two prom-
ising fungal strains (Talaromycesis landicus and Aspergillus
terreus) obtained from sewage, sludge and industrial wastes
exhibited higher rates of tolerance to Pb conferring its effec-
tive role in eco-friendly bioremediation (Sharma et al. 2020).
Phanerochae techrysosporium, novel fungal strain was able
to remediate organic pollutants and was extensively studied
to understand lignin degradation process. Lentinusedodes
mushroom was reported to eliminate pentachlorophenol upto
60% from soil (Fayyad et al. 2020; Fragoeiro 2005).
Nutrient requirement is a major concern in fungal
wastewater treatment. There have been studies to examine
the effect of micronutrient supplementation on produc-
tion of fungal biomass during wastewater treatment. Addi-
tions of ammonium tartrate and glucose were found to be
beneficial in waste water treatment (Ren and Yuan 2015).
Jasti et al. (2006) reported that although addition of nutri-
ents did not affect fungal production to a certain extent, it
really helps in improving the COD removal rates and the
yields. Iron, zinc, molybdenum, copper, manganese and
13
Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali (2021) 32:257–272
either strontium or calcium are some essential micronu-
trients for fungal growth (Jasti et al. 2006). However, in
large-scale fungal wastewater treatment, a technical solu-
tion to supress bacterial proliferation and contamination
is necessary. Traditional methods of disinfection such as
ozonation, hydrogen peroxide, UV treatment and chlorine
are, for now, used as selective disinfectants.
7 Summary
This review has mentioned major groups of organisms that
are used for the bioremediation of wastewater. The various
studies conducted on different types of wastewater, the
specific type of microorganisms suited for organic toxic-
ity removal, and biomass cultivation has been discussed.
Moreover, the major concerns and the specific limitations
of using any kind of microorganism for treatment of waste-
water have been highlighted. Advances in biotechnological
applications in recent years like genetic engineering have
made it possible to obtain desired characteristic in vari-
ous microorganisms. It is also possible to use recombinant
DNA technology for developing the microorganisms to
obtain specific desirable by-products at available growth
conditions (Fig. 2). Descriptive models of degradation
kinetics related to a specific microorganism and the by-
product recovery are needed, which can serve as a basis
for designing wastewater treatment systems.
8 Future prospects
Heavy metals and metalloid metabolism in plants is one of
the many intriguing areas of approach which can be used
in enhancing our knowledge for bioremediation strategies.
The employment of matrix assisted laser desorption ioniza-
tion (MALDI), laser ablation inductively coupled plasma
mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and Fourier transform
ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS)
towards this aim can help pushing the efforts further (Jones
et al. 2015). Technologies like next generation sequencing
(NGS), mass spectrometry-based proteomics and proteog-
enomics collectively favour the generation of tailor micro-
organisms that could tolerate higher levels of contaminant
concentrations and stress, thus having higher bioremediation
efficiencies and lower costs. Gene-stacking approaches can
be made of use to engineer pathways. Additionally, strat-
egies used for genome editing can be designed using the
CRISPR-Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palin-
dromic repeats) system or TALENs (transcription activator
like effectors nucleases) technology to produce organisms
with improved biomass. Furthermore, if efforts are made
Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali (2021) 32:257–272
Fig. 2  Heavy metals released during different steel making process and removal of contaminants by biotechnological methods
to combine the bioremediation methods with bioenergy or
biofuel production on contaminated lands, it would be a very
useful approach of applying these methodologies for simul-
taneous production of renewable energy or a biofuel.
Acknowledgement The authors greatly acknowledge R&D division
of Tata Steel Ltd, Jamshedpur, for providing infrastructural and all the
required facilities.
Author contributions S.K and G.K.N designed and drafted the manu-
script, R.K., G.K.N, S.K revised and approved the manuscript.
Declarations
Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing
interests.
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