Water is a prime candidate for the development of intensive water recycling strategies and the recovery of valuable chemical products in large industry. The present study performs the bench-scale submerged microfiltration bioreactor using the white-rot fungus Coriolus versicolor for treatment of textile dye wastewater and was confirmed the decoloration capacity of the fungus strain in agar-plate and aqueous batch studies. The temperature and pH of the reactor was controlled at 29±1° C and 4.5±2 respectively. The bioreactor was operated with an average flux of 0.05 m/d (HRT=15hrs) for a month. Extensive growth of fungi and their attachment to the membrane led to its fouling and associated increase of transmembrane pressure requiring periodic withdrawal of sludge and membrane cleaning. However, stable decoloration activity (approx. 98%) and TOC removal (>95%) was achieved using the entire system (fungi+membrane), while the contribution of the fungi culture alone to color and TOC removal, as indicated by the quality of the reactor supernatant, was 35-50% and 70%, respectively. The present study was assessed the decolorization efficiency of the collected white rot fungi strains through agar plate and liquid batch studies and, subsequently assessed the feasibility of a submerged microfiltration membrane bioreactor implementing the fungi culture for treatment of textile dye wastewater.
Textile Effluent, Bioreactor, White-rot fungi & Remediation
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