Aerobic biodegradation of azo dye Acid Black-24 by Bacillus halodurans

Bacillus halodurans MTCC 865 was employed for decolorization of textile azo dye, Acid Black-24 (AB-24). Thousand mgl⁻¹ of AB-24 was decolorized with 90% efficiency by the strain within 6 hrs at pH 9 and 37 °C with 5% NaCl under static conditions in screening medium. Decolorization was evaluated by measuring the periodic decrease in absorbance at 557 nm (λ(max)). Biodegradation of Acid Black-24 was determined by FTIR and HPLC. The FTIR spectrum of the AB-24 dye suggests the presence of azo bond (-N = N-) peak at 1618.28 cm⁻¹. Absence of the azo bond in the degraded sample spectrum indicates biodegradation of the dye. Formation of metabolites with different retention times in HPLC analysis further confirmed degradation of the azo dye, Acid Black-24 by Bacillus halodurans.