Optimization and kinetics evaluation of biodegradation of synthetic azo reactive dye by fungal consortium

Wastewater containing direct dyes discharged from various industries, in particular, textile industry, often cause many environmental problems. Among the various effluent treatment methods, biological methods found to be cost effective and do not end up in secondary pollutants. In this study, an attempt has been made to study the decolorization of cibacron yellow S-3R, an azo reactive dye by using fungal cultures such as Coriolus versicolor, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Pleurotus ostreatus, and Myrothecium verrucaria. The fungi were able to decolorize individually the azo reactive dye cibacron yellow S-3R to an extent of nearly in the range 75 - 85%, whereas the mixed fungal consortium was able to decolorize to an extent of nearly 95%.The study is extended with the kinetics of decolorization of Cibacron yellow S-3R using mixed fungal consortium containing equal proportions of the cultures. The experimental results show that decolorization kinetics follow second order rate equation.