Abstract
The role of fungi in the treatment of wastewater has been extensively
researched. Many genera of fungi have been employed for the dye
decolourization either in living or dead form. In this study, the removal
of an acidic dye, Indigo Carmine (IC), from an aqueous solution by
biosorption on dead fungus, Pleurotusostreatus, was investigated. The
effects of contact time, initial dye concentration, amount of dead
biomass, agitation rate and initial pH on dye removal have been
determined. Experimental results show that an increase in the amount of
dead biomass positively affected the dye removal. The highest removal was
obtained at 150-200 rpm. Slightly lower removing activities were found at
lower agitation rates. The dye adsorption effi ciency was not affected by
pH except minor variation in the pH of 2-8. Color removal was observed to
occur rapidly within 60 minutes. The removal of dye by dead biomass of P.
ostreatus was clearly dependent on the initial dye concentration of the
solution. Dye removal was reduced from 93% to 64% as concentration was
increased from 50 to 500 mg/L Indigo Carmine. This study showed that it
was possible to remove textile dyes by dead biomass of P. ostreatus.
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