BIOREMOVAL OF DYES FROM INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER

Abstract

Preliminary experiments were carried out using two different types of synthetic dyes: Congo Red and Brilliant Blue R-250 and also three different sources of inocula were used as source of microorganisms for dye decolorization. These inocula were agricultural soil, sheep compost and soil filtrate. Then based on the preliminary experimental results, only sheep compost was used to study its ability to decolorize and /or degrade Congo Red. Then, sheep farm compost was used to examine its ability to decolorize and/ or degrade wastewater containing Congo Red (CR) synthetic dye under facultative anaerobic conditions at 30°C. The sheep compost consortium was used to examine the effect of different operating parameters on the dye decolorization efficiency under the following different operating parameters: temperature, aeration and accumulative dye loading. The microscopic examination indicated the presence of 3 non-pure isolates with different bacterial shapes, so they were mentioned as mix. No.1, mix. No.2 and mix. No.3. Then, these three mixtures were used to study the following different parameters effects on CR removal: inoculum concentration, initial dye concentration and incubating time required for the maximum decolorization. To the best of our knowledge the present work could be of the first reports which used the sheep compost as a source of microbes to decolorize and/or degrade wastewater containing azo dyes.