Heavy metals removal potential of metal tolerant fungal biomass on leather industry effluent and assessment of treated effluent toxicity by in vitro studies

Improper heavy metal–enriched wastewater release has emerged as an important environmental threat. The purpose of this study was to examine the possibility of using filamentous Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger biomass immobilized on banana and pomegranate peels under in vitro conditions to remove pollutants from the effluent of the leather industry. The physicochemical traits were discovered to be above the allowable limits. Fortunately, both fungal species were grown together in the Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) plate without exhibiting antagonistic traits. Remarkably, the test A. niger and A. flavus immobilized pomegranate peel and banana peel up to 82