ABSTRACT
Chromium (Cr) enters terrestrial and aquatic environments through the indiscriminate disposal of wastes from industries, including electroplating, leather tanning, timber treatment, pulp production, and petroleum refining (Zhitkovich, 2011). Chromium is widely used as trivalent Cr [Cr(III)] in the tannery industry and as hexavalent Cr [Cr(VI)] in the timber treatment industry (Barnhart, 1997). Chromium(VI) is highly toxic and carcinogenic even when present in very low concentrations in water (Owlad et al., 2009), and it represents the greatest concern and focus for remediation. The maximum recommended concentration of Cr(total) in groundwater and wastewater is 2 mg L−1, whereas for Cr(VI), it is only 0.05 mg L−1 (Park et al., 2004).
