Environmental contamination by toxic heavy metals is causing a serious problem worldwide. The objective of the study was the utilization of eco-friendly and low-cost effective biomass of actinomycetes in the removal the toxic heavy metals (Cu2+, Pb2+, and Cd2+) from wastewater. Out of sixty-six isolates of actinomycetes were isolated from different drains in Egypt, eleven isolates removed studied heavy metals (Cu2+, Pb2+, and Cd2+) singly above 70% were selected to remove metals from ternary mixtures. The biosorption by dead biomass for all isolates was higher than that by living biomass. The highest removal was recorded by Kw42 isolate. It was removed , and from Cu2+, Pb2+ and Cd2+, respectively. The 16S rRNA analyses and phylogenetic data of Kw42 concluded that Kw42 is a member of Streptomyces genus and it was deposited in the GenBank database under accession number MK020765. The biosorption by the dead biomass of Streptomyces cyaneus Kw42 under the optimized conditions (pH-8 at 40 C for 3 h with biosorbent dosage) was found to be;Pb2+ () > Cu2+ () >Cd2+ (). By Electronic Microscope investigation the surface of dead biomass of Kw42 became smoother after binding with metal ions. Treatment of real wastewater by dead biomass of Streptomyces sp. Kw42 yielded complete bio-removal for all studied heavy metal ions after 120 min. | Biosorption of Cu2+, Pb2+ and Cd2+ from wastewater by dead biomass of Streptomyces cyaneus Kw42
