Abstract: The brewery industry consumes substantial quantities of water and chemicals, producing effluent with a high pollutant load that, if untreated, poses significant long-term environmental risks. This study aimed to develop an eco-friendly approach for treating brewery wastewater using indegounous bacterial strains isolated from brewery effluent and contaminated soils near Harar Brewery, Ethiopia. A total of sixteen bacterial isolates were initially recovered, and nine demonstrating the highest pollutant removal efficiencies were selected for further analysis. Genus-level identification based on morphological and biochemical characteristics revealed strains belonging to Aeromonas , Pseudomonas , and Bacillus . The four most effective isolates were subsequently characterized using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, identifying WS9 ( Lysinibacillus fusiformis ), WS3 ( Bacillus velezensis ), WS5 ( Bacillus sp.), and SS4 ( Bacillus halotolerans ). Bioremediation experiments conducted in batch cultures showed significant removal efficiencies for pollutants in brewery effluent, including biochemical oxygen demand (56.54%–79.69%), chemical oxygen demand (34.78%–62.08%), total nitrogen (36.94%–73.85%), phosphorus (56.14%–78.40%), total suspended solids (36.67%–74.86%), total solids (39.76%–67%), total dissolved solids (39.17%–65.59%), and turbidity (25.79%–73.13%). The electrical conductivity and pH values of the treated effluent ranged from 5.23 to 5.57 mS/cm and 8.28 to 8.46, respectively. These results demonstrate the high potential of indigenous bacterial isolates for bioremediation of organic and inorganic pollutants, offering a promising and sustainable solution for industrial wastewater treatment in brewery operations.
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