Metal Recovery From E‐Waste as a Sustainable Approach Towards Bioremediation by Bacillus albus and Bacillus aerius Strains

ABSTRACT Solid trash dumps are expanding quickly due to a rise in electronic waste (e‐waste). E‐waste contributes significantly to environmental degradation, which can have detrimental effects on both environment and human health. This study employs recovery of different important metals by selected strains of Bacillus albus (GenBank Accession No. PX956283) and Bacillus aerius (GenBank Accession No. PX956319), isolated from e‐waste contaminated soil. Bioleaching process was employed in laboratory condition at 37°C, 150 rpm for 5 days of incubation. The recovery metals from e‐waste were characterized by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP‐OES) using leaching media following the bioleaching process. However, B. albus recovered Ba 70.98%, Fe 94.72%, Mn 83.84%, Ni 91.41%, Zn 95.43%, and Pb 96.48% from printed circuit board (PCB). B. aerius also recovered Ba 90.78%, Fe 87.13%, Mn 79.57%, Ni 90.8%, Zn 97.18%, and Pb 71.4%. Further investigation was done using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM), x‐ray diffraction (XRD), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to look for changes in structural and functional groups. This method, which is an eco‐friendly method of managing e‐waste, uses the chosen strains for multiple metal extraction from the PCBs without any chemical preparation.