Kinetics of anaerobic biodecolourisation of azo dyes

Kinetics of anaerobic biodecolourisation (methanogenic environment) of four azo dyes (Acid Orange 6, Acid Orange 7, Methyl Orange and Methyl Red) was investigated with regard to their electrochemical properties as well as under variation of dye and sludge concentrations, pH and temperature. Cyclic voltammetry revealed a correlation between the potential of irreversible reduction peak of the dye and its first-order decolorisation constant. For each dye tested, this decolourisation constant was adversely proportional to dye concentration (0.086-1.7 mM) and had a saturation (hyperbolic) dependency on sludge concentration (0.04-1.1 g VSS/l), a bell-shape dependency on pH (4.0-9.0) and Arrhenius dependency on temperature (24-40 degrees C). Transfer from methanogenic to sulphate reducing environment led to an increase of decolorisation constant for all the dyes investigated due to the abundant presence of sulphide as a reducing agent in the reaction medium. Similar transfer to a denitrifying environment resulted in an almost complete decease of decolourisation because nitrate easily outcompetes azo dyes as an electron acceptor.